The Legend of Megaroad
by Newtype Alpha
Summary: The battle lines have been drawn and the two great armies square off in space to decide the fate of the galaxy in what they call the 2nd Supervision War. No one is sure what the future holds for the Megaroad-01 colony; only time will tell.
1. Introduction

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--INTRODUCTION--

In mankind's exploration of space he has discovered many obstacles and many unpleasant surprises, as a man in my position can more than attest to. The first space voyagers often fought battles against their own ship, struggling to survive in conditions totally alien to human existence in space craft built by inventive cavemen. The age of exploration had proceeded at a snails pace until July 17 of 1999, the day space station New Frontier detected a strange energy from a point Lunar orbit on a collision course with Earth. 

Falling from the sky at incredible speed was the great hull of that grand battleship we now call Macross, the same vessel that even today stands in the center of Macross City as a monument to human achievement. With the crash of the alien starship on South Ataria Island, a new age was born in space travel. Humanity began to reverse engineer what was left of the great warship and study what they could salvage while at the same time rebuilding the ship for their own use. Reflex weapons, nuclear devices more powerful than the largest atomic bombs, now filled our stockpiles and all were aimed at the stars in preparation for the invasion we all foolishly assumed would be right behind this vessel. Mankind's first space warship, the Oberth, rolled off the assembly line some years later, a mobile missile platform with enough firepower to blast an entire continent flat. Others like it were soon to follow, as well as the ARMD space carriers and the blueprints of the overtechnology Spruance class destroyers. All paled in comparison to the Macross itself, the ship that was to be the flagship of the United Nations Space forces.

On February 7 of 2009, ARMD-01 detected another defold in our system. An advanced fleet of Zentradi warships, 100 in all, entered the solar system in pursuit of a Supervision Army gunboat, namely the ship we now call the Macross. The Zentradi are a puzzle that has only recently been solved, a race of clones in the image of their creators standing on average 55 feet tall. In the traditional Zentradi fleet, most men have never seen a woman, as most women have never seen a man. They function in separate vessels and fleets, not daring to come in contact with each other for some consequence no one is exactly sure. Commander Britai Kidronak, at that time a loyal officer of the Zentradi space forces, tracked the vessel to Earth and sent a scout team. In this way did mankind learn... the hard way... an interesting fact about the Supervision Army: they like to booby trap their ships before they abandon them. Acting on an automatic sensor system that had remained dormant for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, the main cannon of SDF-1 Macross opened fire from South Ataria island. Two Zentradi vessels were struck dead center by the beam, both were destroyed instantly. The Zentradi saw this as an act of aggression by their ancient enemies, and according to standard procedure they advanced on Earth.

So began the first battle of Space War I. SDF-1 Macross powered up its newly restored systems and launched into space to join the fleet. UN Spacey forces, 2 ARMD carriers and 3 Oberth class destroyers counter attacked the Zentradi as they came into range. Both of the carriers were blasted to stardust, and the destroyers Miranda and Akishima were destroyed with all hands. SDF-1 managed to escape the battle by folding space still within the planet's gravity well, a maneuver which we now know produces a very random exit vector when one comes out of hyperspace. The Macross, and South Ataria Island for that matter, ended up in space beyond the orbit of Pluto with their fold system very much inoperable. (Inoperable being technicians jargon for "vanished without a trace.") The Zentradi forces were not far behind them.

A running battle ensued. The Zentradi fleet chased the Macross halfway across the Solar System on its journey back to Earth. As a veteran of that war, and a former crewmen of the Macross, I myself must say the ship fought splendidly under the circumstances. The entire Zentradi fleet spent almost a year pursuing this ship across space on the way back to Earth, ignoring the UN Spacey fleets completely. In that time, they came in contact with human culture, just as we made contact with their culture. The Zentradi became utterly confused by even the most basic concepts of our society, barely even grasping concepts as basic as entertainment or love. The reason for this is simple: the Zentradi are a race of clones, genetically engineered for nothing else but warfare and kept in stasis until needed for duty. I have met Zentradi warriors almost 400 years old who have accumulated a total of 8 years life experience. Even the song stylings of the (now infamous) Lynn Minmei left them shaking their heads in wonder, but it wasn't long before they began to grow accustomed to it. In fact, some of them even began to like it.

This came to our credit on February 11 of 2010, when news of "contamination" by micronian culture reached the ears of Gorg Bodolza, supreme commander of the Zentradi forces. Not wanting to repeat past mistakes with the Shiar-zentran and a few others, Bodolza gave the order to remove humanity from the universe. What happened next was a thing to behold: the Bodolza main fleet, a fleet of almost 5 million warships folded into Earth orbit. Hundreds of thousands of gunships powered up and prepared to fire, and alarm bells rang all over the UN Spacey as missile silos opened their doors and pointed at the now starless sky. UN Spacey fired the first shots of that fateful battle as the ground defenses, 8 ARMD carriers and 130 Oberth class destroyers filled the skies with reflex missiles. 2,000 Zentradi vessels were destroyed and thousands more were damaged, and then the Zentradi returned fire.

The gunboats released a surge of reflex energy unto the Earth, tearing through the UN Space fleet and sweeping away just over half of them in an instant. In what would some day be called the "Rain of Death" hundreds of thousands of beams from the gunboats smashed into the Earth, each turning matter into energy and producing an explosion equal to a thousand Hiroshimas. The bombing swept it all away, the cities of Europe, the golden fields of the Ozarks, vaporized the Florida Everglades. Tokyo vanished in the light of a fireball and seawater rushed into fill the huge crater... and the summit of Mount Everest was lowered by a thousand feet. Even New York, and the newly rebuilt World Trade center after its destruction by anti-UN terrorist were scattered into dust. The Earth, scorched and cratered, was now dead.

As the remains of the UN Spacey battled for their very survival in space and on what was left of the Earth, the Zentradi forces of Britai's fleet and a few others who had been "contaminated" by humanities culture gathered for what history remembers as "Operation Minmei." A movie that came out some years ago "Macross: Do You Remember Love" gives a pretty interesting account of the events (and a fairly satisfying depiction of how I met my wife.) The attack was simple, broadcast a song by Lynn Minmei to the Bodolza fleet as a distraction while the Macross and its Zentradi allies attacked Bodolza's command fortress. Much to the amazement of everyone involved, (myself included) it worked. The Zentradi forces were greeted with the image of a 16 year old girl dancing on stage, most of them staring at it in confusion and amazement, not even noticing the Britai fleet and the Macross opening their gunports. A barrage of reflex missiles from SDF-1, and the timely arrival of ARMD-3 and ARMD-6 to the battle gave Macross a clear path to attack Bodolza himself. Macross used a maneuver we now call "Nova Bursting" to destroy the command ship with one shot, along with a sizeable portion of the Zentradi fleet. In the panic that followed, and several hours of battle later, the now leaderless Bodolza fleet scattered in every direction in search of greener pastures. Space War I was over.

Earth had been bombed back into the stone age and the UN fleet was in ruins, with a single ARMD carrier and 4 Oberth space destroyers, but there were survivors. Some of the Zentradi fleet joined forces with the UN Government, and Commander Britai loaned us the cloning chambers the Zentradi used to reproduce themselves. Mankind began to rebuild, slowly at first, then in great leaps as new humans and Zentradi stepped out the cloning chambers and began to be integrated into society. Eventually, it was even learned that the Zentradi, despite being nearly ten times our size and many times stronger by proportion, were almost genetically identical to humans. Through use of the cloning chambers it became possible to reduce the giant's size to that of a human, and so the population of mankind suddenly doubled. But we all knew then that we'd been lucky, dodged the bullet of extinction by a narrow margin of 850,000 survivors out of a population of 6.3 billion. We knew mankind could not afford to remain grounded on Earth any longer, and it was time to move outwards and find our place in the universe.

SDF-2 Megaroad-01 was designed to do just that. The famous colony mission commanded by Misa Hayase Ichijo left Macross City in Augest of 2012 on a course that would take them in a loop around the galactic core in hopes of finding remains of the protoculture. 80,000 humans and Zentradi went with them along with a small escort fleet. We followed their progress with high hopes, even as the Megaroad-02 and 03 were under construction.

In 2016, shortly before the launch of Megaroad-05, the Megaroad-01 colony ship deviated from its planned course for reasons unknown and moved towards a location on the opposite side of the galactic core. Following the reports of this course correction, all transmissions abruptly ceased, and Megaroad-01 was never heard from again.

******

That was 35 years ago. It is the year 2051, a time when the UN Spacey is once again licking it's wounds after a conflict of truly epic proportions. It is only now, 6 months after the armistice of the Second Space War that I can put my thoughts into words that make sense. Unlike the previous war, the UN Government is intact, so is Earth, and so are the Zentradi. And so, it would seem, is the Stellar Republic of the protoculture. This comes as little consolation to many people on both sides who, like myself, have lost family in this conflict. 8 months ago I buried my two oldest daughters, since then millions have joined them in mass graves or floating in space among the wreckage of so many shattered space craft. 

In the months and year during and after the war, I have seen wonders I can barely describe in writing; I have seen the moons of the protoculture's home planet, I journeyed to the new home world of the Stellar Republic. I have seen the remains of the Berren system, 11 planets shattered by fold weapons eons ago. I have seen Lynn Minmei dance in a beam of light as if it were a living thing. And I have seen SDF-2 Megaroad-01. After 35 years the story can finally be told, thanks in part to the testimony of those most directly involved, and recently declassified documents within the UN Spacey and my personal correspondence with Former Chairman Bruno J. Gloval. The time has finally come for mankind to know the truth. 

The people of the Republic call this "Megaroad Elukesto'ru." The closest terran translation is "Documented History of the Megaroad." My wife however, informs me that the word "Elukesto'ru." is used in a different context than human words for "history," and as she explains it the most appropriate translation is "The Legend of the Megaroad." I tell this story this for one reason, as my friend Hikaru Ichijo said it best almost 3 three years ago to the day. "History is like a swinging pendulum; sometimes it hits you. But if you keep an eye on it, it'll only hit you once."

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- Fleet Admiral Maximillian Jenius

37th Colonization fleet

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NOTE: This chapter was cut from the original story because personally I felt it gave too much away as far as the rest of the stories were concerned, but I've been getting some questions from people like "Will the colony mission survive?" and "What'll happen to Hikaru and Misa?" 

Know that I very much appreciate people writing me E-mails and asking questions like this, and please understand that I have considered all of these questions and it seems alot of fans have been curious about what is to come after reading a few chapters of this story. I still hate to give too much away, and I have been very careful not to give away plot points that could spoil the story for future readers. All I can say is sit tight, all questions, and I do mean ALL questions, will be answered in due time.

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	2. Chapter 1: Lost and Found

Legend of Megaroad  
  
  
  
Chapter 1: Lost and Found  
  
--January 9, 2016--  
  
--07:35--  
  
Planetary system HJ-95B has 6 planets and two suns. All of these planets are gas giants, the largest of which is slightly smaller than the planet Saturn. But 6 of these planets have a system of moons, some larger than the Earth itself. Near the 5th planet from the central star, a fleet of some 20 starships de-folded in orbit of one of the lagrange points. Most of these ships were Zentradi in origin; a long time ago their commanders had pledged their allegiance to Bodolza, the supreme commander of the largest Zentran fleet. This particular fleet, with it's 6 cruisers and 12 destroyers and single command battleship, was now in the employ of an entirely new force for an entirely new purpose. This new force driving the Zentradi was represented in all it's grandeur as one last ship de-folded into the lagrange point. It was the UN Spacey's pride and joy, the finest and largest ship ever assembled by the human race, and it even dwarfed the Zentradi warships around it. It was called the SDF-2 Megaroad.  
  
On the bridge of this grand colony ship, crewmen swarmed over their controls and displays, surveying the surrounding space and seeing to the safety of the ship and it's crew after a long and difficult de-fold operation. After such a long distance transfer, the bridge was always a hotbed of activity. Over a hundred people moved with insatiable urgency in the command bridge, the navigation bridge beneath it, and the tactical bridge on the lower decks. But in the command bridge overlooking, the huge cauldron of adrenaline that filled the control tower, Lieutenant Commander Corina Matheson stood calmly at her consol, passing out orders to the first patrols of the day like a well programmed computer. "This is Delta calling Viper and Thor squadrons. Proceed to contact point as scheduled."  
  
Hundreds of meters away, in the main fighter bays of the ship, several VF-1 "Valkyrie" fighters were extended from hangar facilities in the hull by docking arms. The fighters' hardpoints had been fitted with small but powerful nuclear reflex warheads, optimized for anti-warship combat. But these planes were exactly vulnerable to attack by hostile fighters either. Each one of them was fully equipped with missile carrying FAST packs which could enable a single Valkyrie to successfully engage an entire squadron Zentradi war machines. The leader's fighter differed from all the others in many respects, but the most obvious was the booster unit on it's back. One of those FAST packs was equipped with a double action beam cannon that could shred a battle pod with a single shot. "Viper 100 calling Delta. Course confirmed. Hope you guys can hold out until we get back!"  
  
Corina smiled. "We can get along without you crazy jet-jockeys hangin' around. You guys just keep your eyes open."  
  
"Roger." The docking arms released the fighters and the planes blasted their way into space toward their patrol stations, ready to battle anything that might come close enough to become a threat to the colony ship. Even if anything happened to break their lines of defense, the frigates would have more than enough time to take aim with their main cannons.  
  
Corina watched the fighters speed off into space, eventually vanishing into the blackness of space among so many stars. She checked over the data displayed on the massive transparent dome that enclosed the entire bridge section. Everything was secure, there was little else that she needed to do herself. When she thought about it, it was difficult to get used to being first officer on a ship this size. She had served as operations officer on ARMD-4 during the war, and she knew that it was about the only reason she had been assigned to this mission. ARMD-4, or "Enterprise" as she was known, was the only ship to survive the nuclear holocaust that accompanied the final battle with the Zentradi's Bodolza fleet, next to the Macross of course. For the last 3 years, Corina had served that same duty on the Megaroad, until 3 months ago a freak accident in Megaroad city had claimed the life of first officer Linda McCarthy. Corina was immediately promoted, and life resumed on the ship as if nothing had happened.  
  
She decided to take a few moments to relax, leaning back against the padded bar next to her consol that was created for just such an occasion. She ran her fingers through her jet-black hair and tied it in a ponytail behind her head, the final solution to three irritating hours of brushing hair out of her face. She didn't know how long she had been resting when Captain Ichijo came to the command bridge and handed her a cup of coffee. "Morning Corina." She said tiredly.  
  
Corina quickly straitened up and tried to look busy, until she noticed the offered coffee mug and relaxed a bit. "Good morning, Captain. We've just finished de-fold operations from LD-426."  
  
"So I've noticed. Well, it looks like you've got everything under control here, so why don't you just relax for now." Misa leaned on the ledge next to Corina's station. It was amazing how much the command bridge resembled the one on the Macross, but it really wasn't surprising. The Megaroad was originally built from the hull of a Macross class battleship, so there were bound to be similarities. Even so, after all these months the resemblance was eerie, and many a time Misa had found herself accidentally falling into the old habits of first officer, much the way Corina was having trouble adjusting to leaving so many of her former duties up to others. Misa found she was actually bored some times, and she even wished Corina would be less competent and give her an excuse to fill in. But she knew that would never slide. Not only was Corina the most driven crewmen on the entire ship, but Misa was bound by regulations to assign someone else to replace her in time of need. She learned this from watching Captain Gloval, who she now knew must've felt the same way.  
  
Corina sensed the Captain's wandering mind and decided to make conversation. "Captain, was the Macross anything like this? I mean, too many times I feel like there are things I'm supposed to do that I'm forgetting..."  
  
"That's natural on a ship this size. But it's not like the Macross at all. We have no main cannon, no modular transformation, and certainly no relentless Zentradi warlords attacking us twice a day. The only time when YOU really have much to do is immediately before, during, and after battles. And you can forget all that nonsense they told you at the academy; your only true purpose on this ship is to be my voice, my eyes and my ears. I have no purpose here except to pick which star systems to survey and when to land on planet nowhere, so really your job is easier than mine ever was." Misa sipped her coffee and grimaced. It needed sugar, and lots of it. "But poor Hikaru is in exactly the same situation he's been in for over 5 years. Squadron commander and public champion."  
  
Corina knew the Misa/Hikaru story well. He had told it to her once at a party when she had asked him for advice about her personal life. "You know, I've got another date with that guy from Viper squadron. He's taking me to Guacalas tonight."  
  
Misa raised a brow. "You mean Lieutenant Broli? What DO you see in him anyway? He's so simple minded."  
  
"Well what do you expect? He IS a Zentradi! It's not like he grew up with dreams of becoming a fireman or something."  
  
Misa wondered about this. She thought about Max and Millia, and how happy they had both been after their wedding. But she had always felt the Millia had only married him from sheer curiosity, the same curiosity that drove millions of Zentradi to join forces with the U.N. Spacey. And always, the force behind it all was puppy love. In the larger scope of things, it had been the Zentradi's almost religious fixation with Minmei; it was probably the single biggest crush of all time. Now, almost 6 years after the war, she had learned to find humor in the image of hundreds-of-millions of battle hardened Zentradi warriors, giggling like schoolboys in their battleships over the Minmei broadcast, while the Macross and Britai Fleet closed in around them to smite them all with a cloud of nuclear fireballs. Once again, Misa clawed her way back to reality. "Well, you two have a good time. Hikaru's taking me out to King Lou's tonight so I probably won't see you."  
  
"It's alright." Corina sipped the coffee, and grimaced.  
  
"Needs sugar?"  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
"I'll be right back." Misa said, leaving the command bridge for the navigation bridge where the coffee pots were brewing.  
  
******  
  
--11:22--  
  
Broli's Valkyrie sailed through the rings of the gas giant, scanning the area for Zentradi fighters or ships that might pose a threat. His sensors were showing something metallic in the area, but he couldn't pin down it's location. For that matter, no one could. "Viper 100 to all sections, report contacts."  
  
"No contact. Repeat, no contact. There's nothing here."  
  
All of the other planes reported similarly. Whatever it was his sensors were trying to guide him to, they couldn't seem to see it. "Keep your eyes open people. There might be warships hiding in this debris. Some Zentradi are more patient than others."  
  
"Roger," They answered.  
  
For 30 more minutes, the flight continued to make their way through the rings. At length, something appeared through the cloud of dust and debris ahead. Broli couldn't make out it's shape, but it was definitely a ship of some kind. "Viper 100 calling Delta, we've located an unidentified vessel in Ring Sector Zeta. Request orders, over."  
  
Corina's voice broke through over the static. "Viper squadron, this is Delta Control. I am authorizing the use of reflex weaponry. Proceed at your own discretion, over."  
  
"Roger." Broli hit his afterburners and closed in on the ship. Once he was close enough, he shifted to gerwalk mode and reduced his relative speed while he looked the ship over from stem to stern. It was in terrible shape, probably badly damaged by some kind of battle. It didn't look Zentradi, but it there was something familiar about it. The rest of the squadron closed in along with him, and all of them switched to battleloid mode as they closed in. Suddenly, Broli recognized the ship. "Wait... hold position! All squadrons, hold position immediately!"  
  
Broli's wingman sounded confused. "What gives skipper?" He said. "Are they Zentradi?"  
  
"Worse. That's a gunboat of the Supervision Army. That means there's a very good chance that the ship's been booby trapped."  
  
"Supervision army? Who's that?"  
  
Broli checked his scanners. There was no sign of any energy reactions, and no life form readings from inside it. "It's a long story. Some of them are Zentradi, but most of their troops are micronian. This ship happens to belong to the Zentradi faction of their fleet." Nerves jumping, Broli put in a call to the Megaroad. "This is Viper 100 calling Delta, this is an emergency! Move the ship away from the rings as quickly as possible!"  
  
Corina sounded confused. "Do you require reinforcements?"  
  
"Negative, Delta! We've confirmed unidentified as an abandoned Super Dimension Fortress! I repeat, we have located an abandoned SDF! Get as much distance as you can!"  
  
On the bridge of the Megaroad, Misa notices Corina becoming agitated. "What's going on out there?"  
  
Corina started checking sensor readings. "There must be some mistake sir! Viper squadron reports contact with an unidentified Macross class ship in the ring zone!"  
  
Suddenly, Misa couldn't feel her legs. "A-An SDF?! Oh my god! Move the fleet as far away from it as you can!"  
  
Corina shrugged. "Jeez! What's the big deal? It's just a bombed out battle fortress..." she said under her breath.  
  
Misa stepped up and leaned against the front window of the command bridge. "That ship is probably booby trapped, just like the Macross was! If we go anywhere NEAR that ship with a fleet of Zentradi escorts, it'll blow us out of the sky!"  
  
Corina broke into cold sweat. "Ah.... Yes ma'am!" She said, passing orders to the other Zentradi ships. "Sir, do you think it's a good idea to have Broli flying so close to it?"  
  
"He'll be fine. That ship will be looking for Zentradi warships, not micronized warriors in variable fighters. Tell Viper squadron to move into that vessel and secure it's engineering section. We'll have to disconnect the power conduit before we can get close to the planet."  
  
"Yes ma'am!" Now she passed on the orders to the fighters, while the Megaroad and it's escort fleet began to change orbits, rising away from the planet in a wide arch. "Sir, if that ship is anything like the Macross, it'll take us the better part of the day to finish this."  
  
Misa shrugged. "We're on a mission of exploration. No need to rush things."  
  
Far away, in deep space, Broli scanned the ship one more time for activity. It was completely dead, no movement or energy readings of any kind. Even so, he was very nervous. "Viper 100 to all planes, we've got a job to do so let's get it done!" The 12 fighters of Viper Squadron swarmed to the huge ship. Broli entered the hull through a small breach he found in it's hull. The others entered in a similar fashion. Broil walked along in the passages of the vessel, passing floating bodies on the way in. There was no power on, and most of the surfaces were covered with asteroidal dust that had apparently been collecting for many years. "This place is a tomb." He said gravely.  
  
"Then let's rob it!" Shouted Broil's wingman from behind him. "That energy conduit should be up ahead. I say we open up the casket alittle!"  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
--18:31--  
  
24 fighters worked to repair a ship designed to carry over 400. With it's reflex furnaces not functioning, there was no power in any part of the ship, and the Valkyrie pilots' first order of duty was to pry open all the doors. Their second task was to collect the frozen bodies of dead Zentradi and stash them in the cargo hold for future autopsy.  
  
It had been a long days work. Not the usual work for a fighter pilot, but lots of manipulator work safeguarding all of the ship's weapons in case the Supervision Army left any unpleasant surprises behind. A few hours ago, Viper and Thor Squadrons were relieved by the Skull and Iron Chiefs Squadrons with their new VF-4 "Lightning" fighters. These new planes somewhat resembled the older Valkyrie fighters used by the other squadrons, especially when equipped with the same dorsal FAST packs. 4 of these fighters were crouched down in the equipment bay where the fold system was stored, sealing the energy conduit that supplied power to the main cannon. "That's the last connection sir! The main cannon should be out of action now."  
  
Hikaru let himself breath easily again. "Good work. You three go down to the engine room to help with the repairs. I'm heading for the bridge." Hikaru left this section of the ship and proceeded to the main bridge where part of Iron Chiefs squadron awaited him. It was unusual to be moving around in this way, but most of the ship was designed for use by full sized Zentradi, so there wasn't a more practical way to get around than marching along in battleoid mode. Before long he reached the command bridge and greeted Lieutenant Harper of the Iron Cheifs squadron. "Got it working yet?"  
  
"Mostly sir. The fold system and two of the reflex furnaces are damaged, but we can still make sub-light.. We could probably repair it if only we could dock with the Megaroad for a few days, but then we would have to delay the survey mission of the system."  
  
"What's your hurry? It's not like there's anywhere in particular we're supposed to be going. We might as well repair the fold system so we can bring her with us on our next jump. Who knows? This old crate might come in handy."  
  
Harper looked around the bridge. "Is this anything like the Macross?"  
  
"Kinda, yeah." Hikaru said. "But when the Macross came down before, it was nothing but a charred hulk. This thing's pretty much intact." He moved to the front of the bridge, where a transparent bubble divided the vacuum on the bridge from the vacuum of space. The bubble just cleared the top of his fighter's head, and he noticed that it was exactly the same as both the Macross and the Megaroad. He turned around and put his back to the dome. He could image where the command bridge would be situated, just about chest high to the fighter. The navigation bridge would be just below it, and the tactical center would be spread out over most of floor. It wouldn't be an especially difficult overhaul; a couple hundred technicians from the Megaroad could do it in two or three months. But if any of the civilian construction companies wanted to help out, and Hikaru was certain they would, they might be able to overhaul the entire ship in just two or three weeks.  
  
Suddenly, the lights in the room flickered on, and air began to fill the huge chamber. Someone in the engine room called up, but much to Hikaru's surprise he was using the ship's internal communication system. As a result, the image of a Lightning's head appeared on the transparent dome in the front of the bridge. "Commander Ichijo, we've restored power to the secondary reflex furnace. Main engines are available, but I can't promises anything better than 40% thurst."  
  
"That'll be plenty. Just as long as we can join up with the escort fleet." Hikaru changed frequencies to the two Lightings he had sent to the ship's navigation bridge. "Set course to rendezvous with the Megaroad and tell them we'll be needing a construction crew and several full sized Zentradi. It seems we have ourselves a new battle fortress." And then, Hikaru remembered something. "This is Skull leader calling Delta, the ship is secured we're on our way to join you. And please tell the captain that I won't be able to make dinner tonight."  
  
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: The Megaroad has only 2 squadrons of VF-4 lightining fighters. The plane was brand new when it launched, and the rest of it's craft are standard Valkyries like the ones used in the original Macross series, as well as the movie "Do You Remember Love?"  
  
Also, I'm guessing a few readers are wondering whatever happened to Minmei. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about her. ^_^  
  
I am at a loss to provide especially vivid descriptions of the ships and mecha of Macross. There is too much detail for me to put into words, so if anyone of you are having trouble visualizing any of the craft mentioned above, visit one of these websites. One or both of these sites will contain pictures and some info on ALL of the vehicles mentioned above. (Inlcuding the Supervision Army's version of the Macross.)  
  
--http://unsd.macrossrpg.com/  
  
--http://www.mahq.net/mecha/macross/macross.htm 


	3. Chapter 2: Dinner and a Movie

Chapter 2: Dinner and a movie  
  
--January 10, 2016--  
  
--21:15--  
  
After a day and a half of crawling through space, the derelict battle fortress eventually made it's way to the rendezvous point with the Megaroad and came up along side it. As requested, at least three construction companies had sent teams into the ship to set up facilities for a micronian crew, while the Zentradi battleship sent over several soldiers in space suits to assist with repairs. Spirits were higher than they'd ever been. People in the city were boasting that they could build this new ship even bigger and better than the original Macross. Already, that seemed entirely possible. SDF-102, as it was now being called, had only been docked with the Megaroad for 7 hours and they had already restored most of it's primary systems. Most of the full sized Zentradi working aboard the ship were grateful for the micronian engineers who could slip behind tight corners and make precise adjustments to delicate equipment quickly and efficiently. A team of micronians with a pair of Zentradi could accomplish in minutes what would take both parties several hours to do on their own. After only 7 hours of work, the ship's primary systems were fully operational once again, and most of the breaches in her hull had been patched. Now, work had begun to overhaul the ship for use by a micronian crew.  
  
While the public writhed in excitement at their city's newest construction project, a small oasis of human discontent roamed free among the smiling masses of invigorated star voyagers. She was a celebrated and vaunted superstar by the name of Lynn Minmei who, once again, finished a hard day's work the same way she had done every night for 3 years. She dressed in the most casual cloths she could find, planted herself on a stool in Mickey's Bar and Grill not two blocks from her condo, ate a small meal of whatever struck her fancy and topped off her stomach with a half pint of vodka. This being done, she would normally walk back to her condo where she would take a short shower and fall asleep on the couch watching TV. She didn't even know why she went out now. There were few people on the ship she felt comfortable around, and Hikaru was almost always either on duty or out somewhere with Misa. Most people who knew her did so by reputation only, given that the video store on Goddard Street had already sold more than 8000 copies of "Small White Dragon", a movie Minmei couldn't even stomach anymore. The thought of Kaifun kissing her made her nauseous, but the thought of being alone for the rest of her life was even worse.  
  
On this night, she was in one of her darker moods, and decided to raise her daily dosage to a full pint. She didn't know what had happened to make her feel this way. The check from the Megaroad Media Commission had come in as expected, paying still more royalties on her songs and movies that framed the bookshelves of people all over the ship. She hadn't seen or heard anything unpleasant or otherwise disturbing at the restaurant where she worked during the day, and she had even managed to avoid signing autographs for most of the week. She was just depressed, and there was no other reason for it than that she was bored.  
  
On this night, she was a slow drinker. For nearly an hour, she sat on her stool, passively twirling her finger around the lip of the glass, when someone sat down next to her. She didn't seem to notice, and she didn't care either. "Hi there." He said.  
  
Minmei grunted a response.  
  
"I've seen you in here alot. You were here last night, and the night before that, and every night last week. Come to think of it, you've been sitting here on this very stool every night since I started coming here."  
  
Minmei grunted again.  
  
"Funny thing is, I've never seen you WITH anyone."  
  
"That's because I always come alone."  
  
"Why do you keep coming here?" He asked, leaning closer to her.  
  
"I've got nowhere else to go, and nothing else to do." She said, barely acknowledging his presence.  
  
"Lonely?" He asked.  
  
"No." She sighed heavily, "Just empty."  
  
"You should cheer up. Being sad is no fun. Whatever's bothering you can't be all that bad."  
  
"It's not. I'm just in a bad mood, that's all."  
  
He looked at his watch. "Well hey, the night is still young. If you're still feeling empty, why don't you let me put some food in you, huh? We can stop by Guacalas if you like."  
  
"Are you asking me out?" she said, still disconnected.  
  
"You could say that."  
  
Minmei sat there for a few moments longer, staring into space. For 30 desperate seconds, she tried to find some reason not to go with this stranger, but no such reason existed. She had nothing better to do. "Sure, why not? Where is Guacalas anyway?"  
  
"Never been there? It's that Mexican restaurant down the street. I think you'll like it."  
  
"Great. What did you say your name was?" Minmei said, uprooting herself from the bar stool.  
  
"Powel. Richard Powel. You?"  
  
The question almost didn't register. When it did, she thought she was hearing things. "What did you just say?"  
  
"What's your name?" He said impatiently.  
  
Minmei stared at him. "You don't know who I am do you?"  
  
Richard stared back. "Huh?"  
  
"You have NO IDEA who I am do you?" Her mood was quickly brightening.  
  
"Am I supposed to?" He said, confused.  
  
She smiled broadly. "It's Minmei." She said, sliding her hand into his. "Lynn Minmei."  
  
"That name sounds familiar…" He said thinking.  
  
"Really? Well I used to work for the TV station. Maybe you heard it there?"  
  
Richard shrugged. "Yeah, maybe. Well, let's go! My treat!"  
  
Minmei was beaming. Just for once, she dropped her guard and thought of herself as a real person, out on a date with a real man, (perhaps the ONLY man on the ship) who had never heard of her before. She had never imagined that something so simple could have made her so happy.  
  
******  
  
--21:25—  
  
Misa was spaced out again. She was lost in thought about just about anything and everything in her life right now. Only when the waiter arrived with their food did she snap out of it, but she had looked across the table to see Hikaru was likewise drifting. "Hikaru, would you PLEASE try and keep your mind here with me? How am I supposed to stay focused myself if you keep drifting off like that?"  
  
Hikaru chuckled. "Yes ma'am. But may I ask where your mind wandered off to while I was sitting here daydreaming?"  
  
"I was thinking about Miku, and some other things of no particular importance. You?"  
  
Hikaru started poking at his food. "I was thinking about that ship we picked up yesterday. I was wondering what we should do with it.  
  
"We'll probably do like everyone here expects us to do: convert the whole thing just like the Macross. We might even set up a new city in there."  
  
Hikaru scooped a heap of brown rice into his mouth and then went on. "Who's gonna command the new battle fortress when we get it operational?  
  
Misa rolled her eyes. "Only YOU would think that far ahead, but as usual you've missed the events of the present entirely. It took an entire planet 10 years to convert the Macross. We'll have set up a colony by then."  
  
"You sure about that?" He said coyly. "In the old days, we had to not only rebuild what was left of the Macross, but we also had to reverse engineer an alien technology we knew nothing about and then repair it. And then, after all that, we had to figure out how to mass produce the parts for it so we could fix all the things that kept breaking down. Granted, the Zentradi probably know less about it than we do, but having them around to help sure will speed up the process once we pool our data. And besides, the only work WE need to do is INSIDE the ship. The hull is mostly intact except for a few scars here and there, and most of her weapons are functioning..."  
  
"Yeah, I see your point. Come to think of it, that IS a really good question. Who would you suggest as her captain?"  
  
"Well, Corina's not bad. Why don't you give her a shot?"  
  
"No way! She just got promoted 3 months ago. There's no way she could get used to something like that."  
  
"You think we should assign one of the Zentradi officers?"  
  
Misa sighed. "I already talked to them about it, but none of them want anything to do with it. I guess it's some kind of Zentradi superstition. They're afraid of demons or something." And then she remembered. "That reminds me. Varcus, the archivist on the Bacta-Qeudrali, tells me that the SDF class is actually the Supervision Army's gun frigate."  
  
"That's bad news. Could there be hostile Zentradi in this system?"  
  
"He doesn't think so. If they'd had any presence in this system in the last 5 years, any passing Zentradi fleets would have swept away any trace of them. Actually, he thinks this ship was part of the same fleet that the Macross belonged to. He said that that fleet had engaged the Bodolza fleet in a huge battle a few months before the Macross arrived on Earth, and that some of their surviving ships tried to escape by de- folding. Most of them were tracked down immediately, but a few dozen of them got away intact. This must have been one of the ones that escaped."  
  
"Temporarily." Hikaru said. "Broli's worried though. He says that more than half it's crew is missing. He wants to send a flight to check out the other planets before we send the survey teams."  
  
"Why not simply conduct the survey under fighter escort?"  
  
"He didn't say. But he did seem very concerned with trying to limit contact with any possible survivors." Hikaru remembered something he'd heard from Millia. "You know why they're called the Supervision Army?"  
  
"Yeah. Varcus told me that it's a name from thousands of years ago. He said that the Supervision Army was a renegade group of proto-culture who started a series of civil wars in the Old Republic. They got their name from their habit of fighting on the front lines right behind their Zentradi warriors. In an old Zentradi language, they were called the ones who supervised their army, or Supervision Army. In a way, it sounds corny, but the truth is always stranger than fiction."  
  
"That's what Millia said. But she didn't exactly put it that way. The way she explained it, it sounded like they were doing more than 'Supervising' the Zentradi. She made it seem like they were enslaving them, exploiting them in some way."  
  
"That makes sense too. Even Zentradi don't fight without a reason. I think it's because the Proto-culture based them so closely on their own genes, so like us they must have some deep seeded distaste for manipulation. You think they resent us for making them fight with us?"  
  
Hikaru shook his head. "We're fighting along side our Zentradi warriors, but from what I've heard we treat them a lot better than the Supervision Army ever did. We give them music and culture, and we offer them peace and safety, balanced with the occasional opportunity to fight someone. Hell, some of us are even DATING them! But when you got down to it, we don't supervise the Zentradi any more than they supervise us."  
  
"Right." Misa smiled, and Hikaru leaned across the table and kissed her. "No more business. Let's just enjoy dinner for once."  
  
******  
  
  
  
--21:25--  
  
Across town, in the Mexican restaurant called Gaucalas (which translates roughly into "disgusting things") Corina was beaming at Lieutenant Broli as he tore through yet another chicken burrito. Broli was himself lost in elation at the experience. "In all the years I've traveled these stars, I never imagined that something this tasty even existed!" He said, taking another huge chomp.  
  
"I'm glad you like it." She said. "What did you used to eat on Britai's flagship?"  
  
"Basically, we had edible sand, protein-rich toothpaste, washed down with lots and lots of alcohol. Occasionally, we'd stop on some planet and kill something, but none of us knew how to cook so we just ate it raw." Broli finished his fifth burrito and patted his stomach. "I NEVER tire of micronian cooking! I don't know how I lasted so long under dear old Britai!"  
  
Corina was overjoyed. She found Broli's almost youthful exuberance very refreshing. Whenever she was around him, everything she usually took for granted seemed like a godsend, even if he too was used to it. "Are you done eating? Don't tell me you're giving up! You left me in the dust with that third tamale!"  
  
"Do not underestimate the power of Zentradi indigestion, kitten." He said. "Unless you're ready to part with me for the night, it would be prudent for me to restrain myself while there's still time."  
  
Corina laughed. She liked it when he called her 'kitten', but more than that she was ceaselessly amused by the way he expressed himself. "Don't worry about it! Tacos make me gassy too. We'll just have a duet."  
  
Broli snickered. "I'm not much of a singer. Which reminds me, what movie are we going to see?"  
  
Corina looked at a printout from the Savoy theatre she had picked up earlier. "This week they're showing Fokker's Fate, Harriet's demise, and Broadway Girl."  
  
"That's it?" He said, surprised. "So soon after the holidays they usually have 5 or 6 films playing at once!"  
  
"Well, they cheated and saved money by re-releasing Shining Star and Small White Dragon, plus some anime movie called Robotech Masters."  
  
Broli shrugged. "Well I've seen the other two, and I don't really like Anime that much."  
  
"And Harriet's Demise is a Megaroad Studios remake of a movie I saw a long time ago and I hated it then. It was trashy and degrading."  
  
"Then what'll it be?"  
  
"You're a pilot, so you might enjoy Fokker's Fate, but I'm in the mood for something a bit more romantic."  
  
Broli looked confused. "What's romantic? I'm afraid I don't know that word.."  
  
"It means...ummm..." she couldn't seem to think of a good way to explain it. She thought hard for a few seconds, trying to find a reference that a Zentradi could relate to. "Basically it's... I guess you could say romantic is another word for love. Like when a man loves a woman."  
  
"I understand, thank you." He said.  
  
Corina started to wonder about something. If he didn't know what romance was, what else was he unaware of? "Broli, what do you know about... reproduction?" Corina said, her face glowing bright red.  
  
"That word I know. It's a proto-culture thing, isn't it?"  
  
Corina nodded shyly. "You could say that. It's something micronians do when... well I guess you could say it's our way of cloning."  
  
"Ah...!" Broli said, finally remembering. "I've heard people mention it around the city, but anytime I asked about it they got really shy and kinda shrunk away. I've noticed it's a subject that most micronians don't feel all that comfortable discussing."  
  
"Didn't you have an archivist on Bacta-quedrali? They should've been able to explain it to you." She said.  
  
"Well yeah, but I never bothered to ask about micronian biology. Besides, the only reason I transferred from the Bacta-quedrali last year with the pilot exchange program was to try and get to know more about proto- culture. I don't think any of our archives contain that kind of information. Come to think of it, I don't even know your anatomy."  
  
"It's the same as yours." She said.  
  
"I meant female anatomy. There aren't many female Zentradi around anymore, and that kind of data could only be found on one of their ships. But since you brought up the subject, why don't you tell me about it?"  
  
"All of it?" she said, blushing again.  
  
"Tell me every last detail."  
  
Corina found herself at a loss for words. There was no way she would be able to explain it to him. And then, she had an idea. "Well in that case, I think we SHOULD see Harriet's Demise."  
  
"I thought you didn't like that movie."  
  
"I don't. But I didn't like it for all the reasons we're going to see it. Afterwards, I'll explain everything." Corina took him by the hand and led him out of the restaurant to the subway station around the corner.  
  
As they left, Minmei arrived with Richard and they sat down at the table they had just vacated. "What's good here?" She said, picking up a menu.  
  
"They have really good quesedillas. And their fried chicken is second to none, even if it is REALLY expensive."  
  
"Fried chicken? I thought this was a Mexican restaurant!"  
  
"It is. But a few months ago they started adding things to their menu to attract more customers. You'd be surprised how business they loose to King Lao's."  
  
Minmei chuckled. "Actually, I work at King Lao's. On an average night, they get three times as many customers as there are in here now. But that's mainly because we're so close to the army barracks. Captain Hayase eats there all the time with some of the other soldiers."  
  
"You mean Captain Ichijo?" Richard corrected.  
  
"Oh yeah, right. Captain Ichijo." She didn't like being reminded of Misa and Hikaru's marriage. In fact, she had even come to see Misa as a friend, when she wasn't fighting back feelings of jealousy.  
  
"Do you know her?" Richard said.  
  
"Yeah. We first met on Earth, right before the war." Minmei decided to quickly change the subject. "So where do you work? Are you in the military or the entertainment business? Or do you cram into one of those offices with the little cubicles?"  
  
"No, actually I'm an artist. I paint portraits and decorations for weddings and such."  
  
Minmei was intrigued. "You paint any famous people?"  
  
"Certainly. I did the cover art for that new movie Fokker's Fate. And once I did a portrait of the Megaroad for a billboard in Macross city."  
  
"That's fantastic! Where did you live before you came here?"  
  
"Well, I used to be a medical student with the defense forces on the Lunar Base. When the Zentradi attacked, naturally I came down to Earth to try and help the survivors. Of course, it never crossed my mind that there wouldn't be any."  
  
Minmei could totally understand his situation. This also explained why he had never heard of her before. "Where did you live after the attack?"  
  
"First I got married, and I built a house on Lake Ontario and I lived there with my wife for two years. She died of anemia about two months before the Megaroad started boarding, and since I didn't have anything left for me on Earth I packed up and signed on." Richard couldn't shake the feeling that he had seen Minmei somewhere before, but he decided she just had one of those faces that always looked familiar. "So, how does a pretty thing like you end up hoping the galaxy?"  
  
Minmei leaned back in the chair. "Well, I lived on the SDF-Macross with my aunt Lina during the war, and when it was al over I tried to move in with one of my cousins and start a business. But then he started taking advantage of me, spending all my hard earned money so he could get drunk and pick fights with my friends. Eventually I just dropped him and went off on my own, and that's how I ended up here."  
  
Richard nodded. "We all work hard to make a living. But here on the Megaroad, there are alot more ways to make a buck. An artist like myself has no problem finding work on a ship like this."  
  
They paused in the conversation as the waiter took their orders, and then Minmei changed the subject. "Where do you live?"  
  
"Galaxy Boulevard." He said plainly.  
  
"Are you kidding me?! That's one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the city!"  
  
Richard sighed. "I know. But I'm worried that I might have to move to a new place soon. The rent keeps going up."  
  
"Why don't you get a roommate?"  
  
"I did. He turned out to be one of the laziest people in the known universe. He hasn't paid his share in over 6 months, and I'm already in the process of displacing him so I can get another roommate. But I worry that by the time I find a new one, I'll be sleeping in a gutter."  
  
"Sorry to hear that." She said. At this time, the waiter arrived with the food. As per Richard's suggestion, she bit into a chicken quesedilla. "It IS good!" She said. "Thanks for the suggestion."  
  
"No problem." Richard said. "I'm just glad I could cheer you up."  
  
******  
  
--23:40--  
  
Harriet's Demise was originally intended as a comedy, but it's director has a notoriously dirty sense of humor. Broli and Corina had both laughed through the first half, but a scene about halfway through, depicting Harriet Parker's late night rendezvous with Aaron Sanders in the back seat of a Porsche, is considerably more graphic than necessary. All things considered, the movie was mostly entertaining, if not a bit distasteful at times.  
  
Corina had enjoyed this remake quite a bit more than the original, but Broli had not made a sound for the entire second half of the film. When the credits rolled and the lights came back on, Corina looked over at Broli's face and saw one very stunned Zentradi. He was staring wide eyed at the screen, jaw hanging open in disbelief. "Broli? Are you okay?" She said sweetly.  
  
Broli seemed to snap out of his daze and looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "M-m-micronians do that in real life?!"  
  
Corina was overwhelmed with embarrassment, but she knew it would be over soon. "It's part of our life processes. We do this... well whenever we feel the urge."  
  
"How often do you feel the...the urge to procreate?"  
  
She felt her throat tightening. "Well, normally about once a month. But most people... well normal people anyway... don't always act on it. More often than not we just ignore it and get on with our lives." Corina could see that Broli had more questions, but she didn't feel like it was a good idea to be discussing the subject in a movie theatre. "Look, let's talk about this in private."  
  
With due haste, Corina dragged the incoherent Zentradi out of the theatre and around the corner to a bus stop, which they took all the way back to Corina's apartment near the army barracks. She led him upstairs and quickly brewed a pot of tea to try and calm him down. "You'd better sit down." She said, depositing him in a chair in the kitchen and handing him a cup of hot tea. "This could take a while."  
  
In the privacy of her apartment, Corina found she was able to clarify most of Broli's misconceptions quickly and articulately. After nearly two hours of questions and answers, she felt like he was beginning to understand fully. But he still had a few more questions to ask her. "If micronians do this to produce offspring, then why does it so rarely result in pregnancy? That seems counter productive." He asked, again the curious Zentradi she had come to know.  
  
"Like I said, the experience is most often very pleasurable. But there is a psychological element involved that was probably handed down from our ancestors. We feel driven to procreate at regular intervals in order to keep our numbers from thinning out. After what Bodolza did to Earth, this seems like a pretty useful instinct."  
  
Broli nodded in understanding. "That may be another influence from proto-culture engineering."  
  
"What do you mean?" Corina said, not truly understanding his observation.  
  
"We don't know much about proto-culture, but what we do know is that their population tended to grow VERY slowly. That's why they developed cloning technology for mass production of Zentradi. Whatever their method of reproduction was, it was by no means fast enough to replace the losses to our people from the first Supervision Wars. I don't know exactly what method they used, but it wasn't anything like yours. In fact, micronian procreation was probably developed as an improvement upon existing Zentradi cloning techniques. It's not as fast as normal cloning, but it 's just as efficient, and you wouldn't need all that heavy machinery we use."  
  
"I don't think you understand. It's totally different form cloning. Each baby born is unique, different from it's parents and everyone else in it's family..."  
  
"I know. The Zentradi are the same way. We may all originate from a bio-gestation tank, but every Zentradi is different in subtle ways. I'm sure you can tell me apart from other Zentradi, but I might bear a close resemblance to some of the others in my squadron because we were manufactured from the same bio-cells. Alot of people say I look like Britai, and I know the only reason for that is because he's a commander type like I am. It's the same reason you look alot like your mother."  
  
Corina had to admit, he was right. She DID look alot like her mother, just as Broli and Britai could have been father and son. "I see your point. Anyway, unless you have any more questions, I think we should find something else to do."  
  
"Why? It's enlightening to talk to you like this."  
  
"Well, most micronians do alot of different things on dates other than talk. Maybe we should..."  
  
Broli experienced an unexpected moment of panic as he seemed to realize for the first time that he was in Corina's apartment. "N-No thanks... That'll be enough for tonight! Thanks Commander Matheson, I'll be leaving now!!" Broli jumped up from the table and started clawing at the door knob.  
  
"You have to unlock it first." Corina said, moving behind him. "Anyway, are you sure you don't want to stay?"  
  
"I'm sure! I'm sure!" Broli unlocked the door and threw it open.  
  
Corina caught him before he could leave. "Well, good night I guess." she said sweetly, and she leaned forward and kissed him goodnight.  
  
It was all Broli could take. With a panicked yelp, he turned and dashed down the hall and out of the building before Corina could even close the door. "What's gotten into him?" She thought. "I've seen ballistic missiles move slower than that!"  
  
Author's Note: Parts of this fanfic may move slower than usual, while other parts may seem to be rushed. And since the Megaroad "disappeared" several moths from this point in the story, you can expect this story to proceed form here on in a series of short leaps depicting major events.  
  
Anyone with questions, please hit with an E-mail. 


	4. Chapter 3: The Big Guns

Chapter 3: The Big Guns  
  
February 25, 2016  
  
--13:12--  
  
Two months had passed since the Megaroad had defolded into this system. Work on the SDF-102 was proceeding well ahead of schedule, and the ship's innards had already come to resemble the Macross. It was fully capable of supporting at least 50,000 people now, with all its systems up to spec. The bridge section had been completed first, and all of the ship's systems had finally been hard wired to the command center. Several bulkheads were strategically removed to make room for a planned city block, and once the hazardous programming had been scrubbed from the computers, the main cannons had been re-connected as well. It was all ready to fly. But there were two important elements still lacking from the new ship: a crew, and a name. No one was sure who would be the captain of the new ship. Corina was the best candidate, but she and Misa were the only ones opposed to the assignment. They thought of assigning one of the more experience Zentradi to command, but none of them seemed willing to give up their own commands for a new ship, and the same went for their qualified junior officers. While the assignments for the ship's crew were filled rather quickly, the list of qualified officers to command was a very short one. And the jury was still out on what to call this ship.  
  
Corina stood at her station as usual, looking over the ship from stem to stern. It looked exactly the way it had when they first discovered it, though a bit more solid after the repair work to her hull, and the whole ship had been repainted in battleship-gray. It was a very beautiful ship, she had to admit it.  
  
Lieutenant Douglass was likewise looking out the window at the ship, but her mind was focused on other matters. "Broli still not talking to you?"  
  
Corina considered Sara to be the sister she never had...or wanted. The ship's tactical officer had a notoriously short attention span, but she had proven that she could always be counted on when it mattered. This, Corina decided, was one of those times. "He's not ignoring me or anything. He just seems really nervous around me. If I didn't know better, I'd say he's terrified of me."  
  
"Maybe he is. You probably scared him off during your last date. Don't forget, that type of emotion is a whole new ball game for a Zentradi. Just be patient."  
  
For a woman almost 4 years younger than her, Sara was quite the fountain of wisdom. "How long do you think it'll take him to recover?"  
  
"How long did it take him to get used to seeing men and women kiss each other?"  
  
Corina saw her hopes rising again. "That was one of his first surprises when he transferred from the Bacta-Quedrali last year. He happened to see Captain Ichijo with Hikaru in the officer's club one night. It only took him about three months, but they make a pretty cute couple so it probably wasn't that hard." Corina giggled, as did Sara  
  
On that note, the hatch opened and Misa walked onto the bridge. She took a few steps forward and then stopped suddenly, looking around the room at her crew. "I know when someone's been talking about me. What did you say Corina?" She said in a mocking tone.  
  
"Nothing sir! Actually, we were talking about Broli."  
  
Misa nodded. "Don't worry about it, he'll be fine in a few weeks once he gets used to you again." Misa sat in the Captain's chair on the far port side of the bridge and rubbed her temples painfully. "I've gone over EVERY service record on this ship and I still can't find anyone qualified to command the new ship. Commander McCarthy WAS the best candidate, but she can't very well command a warship form her grave, can she?"  
  
"Maybe I could be Captain!" Sara chirped exuberantly.  
  
At least 4 people in the room responded in unison. "NO!"  
  
Sara grunted indignantly. Misa looked through the windows at the SDF- 102 as it rested along side the Megaroad. It was beautiful, she thought. As much as it resembled the SDF-1, it was still quite an experience to see it as it was originally designed. "We have a whole crew assembled for this ship but no captain for it."  
  
"We also need a wing commander, sir. We're transferring ten squadrons of fighters over there, but they need leadership just like anyone else." Corina was reading the SDF-102's crew manifest again.  
  
Misa sighed. "And with all this, we don't even know what to name her." Misa stood up and walked over to the huge radar screen on the starboard side of the bridge, exactly opposite to her chair. "Ensign Cartwright, show me the star charts for this sector, expanded to include the galactic center."  
  
"Yes ma'am." She said, accessing the necessary data. Misa looked at the charts and started to think. They were only a few hundred light years from the center of the galaxy, which presented a very interesting target for exploration. But there were other objectives she had hoped to achieve before she risked the entire fleet on such a dangerous venture. Objectives she had kept to herself and never told anyone about before. But this new ship made all the difference in the world; now was her chance. Not that the Zentradi ship's weren't powerful enough for the job, but the SDF-102's main cannon was more powerful than any weapon in their current arsenal and the ship itself was far more versatile. And besides that, it was also expendable. It was essentially a little jalopy they picked up on the side of the road, and now they could use it to draw some heat away from the Megaroad when the time came. At this moment, looking at the star charts, she decided it was time to speak to Varcus in depth about proto-culture. But first, she had to find a new Captain for the ship without a name.  
  
--18:45--  
  
"This is Viper 100 calling Delta, area 12 is clear. Proceeding to our final patrol zone." Broli reported. He had to figure that this last patrol zone was where the enemy must've been hiding; Broli had known for a long time what awaited him on one of the little planets. For the past two months his squadron had scoured the worlds of the system, one by one, until he was satisfied that they were cleared of any Supervision presence. He had quietly passed on his concerns to Captain Gouraz of the Bacta-Quedrali, who had whole heartedly agreed. An entire division of fighters and shock troopers in powered suits had discreetly searched the mini-worlds one by one before the survey teams had arrived. He was relieved that the Supervision Army had not been spotted down there, but he was disappointed that none of the surveyed worlds had any hope for colonization. They were utterly uninhabitable, and most of them couldn't even be terraformed. And now they came to their last little world, a moon so small it didn't even have an atmosphere, and Broli's worst fears were beginning to manifest. An entire squadron of battlepods had ceased communications while checking a deep ice valley near the north pole, and there had been signs of struggle and energy reaction. Viper Squadron neared the area in question now, and Broli let his finger dance over the targeting controls for the 4 reflex warheads. He was less than two seconds from unleashing a nuclear fury that could wipe out a small city, but he would wait until he was sure he had a target.  
  
And then that target appeared. As the squadron neared the deep valley in set into the ice sheet, something began to rise up from it's concealment. No one knew what to make of it; it certainly didn't look Zentradi. But when a hail of cannon fire lanced out from the hull of the vessel, striking down Viper 104 with one of it's beams, the entire squadron broke formation and scattered for their lives. All except Broli.  
  
He knew that there was no time to explain the situation to anyone on the Megaroad, they just wouldn't understand. The other Zentradi units on this little moon had undoubtedly seen the flare from the plane they had just shot down, and even if they hadn't they were sure to see this... all four of his reflex warheads streaked from beneath his wings and detonated in unison, illuminating the valley and most of the face of the moon with a false dawn.  
  
On the Megaroad, everyone on the ship cast their gaze toward the face of the moon below, staring in wonder at the blinding nuclear fireball which had carved a massive section out of the moon's surface. Corina and Misa stared at the explosion with growing anxiety. They didn't know what was going on, but they could see 10 Valkyries rising from the moon as fast as their engines could carry them. Broli's fighter was still down there, and there was nothing left of Viper 104. "Viper 100, report at once! Viper 100!" Corina was screaming into the radio at the top of her lungs. There was no reply.  
  
Misa didn't like where this was going at all. She thought to send reinforcements, until Broli's Valkyrie suddenly appeared on the radar, tailed by a swarm of Quadrano powered armors and several small warships she had never seen before. "This is Viper 100 calling Delta! Looks like I've stirred up the hornet's nest! They're right behind me!"  
  
A new signal broke through the commotion, one Misa knew too well. "This Skull Leader to all fighter groups, Launch when ready! Repeat, Launch when ready! Viper Squadron rendezvous with the Zentradi attack group at defense point alpha..."  
  
Misa sprang to the radio control so quickly she almost knocked Corina through the wall. "Hikaru, what the hell are you doing?! You don't have any scramble orders! We don't even know what's going on out there!"  
  
"We don't have time, Captain! You won't be able to arm your warheads fast enough! So you might as well sound the scramble horn, because we're going out!"  
  
"Hikaru you're in big trouble when you get back here mister! I mean it!" She screamed. She looked over the port side of the bridge and she could see fighters blasting away from their hangars far astern. At least four squadrons passed by the bridge as she watched, all armed with reflex weapons. And Beyond them, the entire fleet was beginning to move to support the attacking fighters. It was utter chaos. "This is Delta to all ships, alter course immediately to 140 minus 18! We'll fire broadside if we have to, just get out of the battle zone as fast as you can!" Most of the Zentradi fleet seemed to comply, but the command battleship Bacta-Quedrali and three destroyers were making a wide arch in the opposite direction, putting themselves between the Megaroad and the attacking fleet. "Delta calling Eagles Nest, fall back with the rest of the fleet! We have to regroup before we get in over our heads!"  
  
The commander of the Zentradi battleship, the unusually tall Zentradi warrior named Captain Gouraz, hailed the bridge of the Megaroad is his usual booming voice. "We have no idea what their soldiers will do to you if they get close enough! We must protect the civilians!"  
  
A flare appeared up ahead now, telltale sign that someone in Viper squadron fired one of their small tactical nukes designed for anit-mecha warfare. Misa saw from the situation boards that a massive groups of battlepods had appeared out of nowhere and opened fire on the Valkyrie/Zentradi counter attack group. A savage melee of missiles, beams and shells now danced back and forth in the distance, marked by the occasional explosion of either space craft of tactical nuke, or sometimes both. Corina was worried about Broli, who was leading the counter attack with his squadron now, but everyone on the bridge was worried for all the soldiers fighting out there no matter who they were. But as they looked on at the chaos of the battle, their gaze was drawn to the SDF-102 as it passed in front of their line of sight. Apparently, it had been moving away from the Megaroad for several minutes and was already close enough to the battle zone to open fire with it's laser cannons. They could only hope that the guys in the ship's navigation bridge knew what they were doing.  
  
Again, Misa looked at the situation board, still totally unaware that she was crushing Corina against the bulkhead with her shoulder. "Delta to all ships, maintain forward formation at all costs! The enemy's patrol ships are charging under fighter cover!"  
  
As the Zentradi ships began to comply, Corina discretely shoved Misa out of the way and went back to her duties. For several minutes they could do nothing but wait until Hikaru's wing was in position to attack. Sara was looking at the situation board in front of her and she started to get nervous. "Sir, their destroyers are pulling back to the rear! Viper squadron reports enemy units are superior and they can't hold them off much longer!"  
  
Misa clenched her fists. "Corina, spread them out and tell Hikaru he's cleared to deploy his reflex missiles."  
  
Corina again looked out the window to where Viper and Thor squadrons were fighting the attacking fighters along side their Zentradi allies. "Zentradi attack group, reset for long range combat! We're going to attack with reflex warheads in a moment, so give them a wide berth!"  
  
"Roger!" Replied Broli. He passed the order on to the others, but found it was alot easier said than done. He was able to play keep-away with a squadron of battlepods for several minutes by firing his missiles in combination with the double action beam cannon on his right booster pack, but they had charged in like mad boars not matter how many of him he destroyed. Now they were back to close combat, and he was getting more and more anxious to get out of the way of the reflex missile attack. And then, as if by divine intervention, several blasts of laser fire began to streak past around and through the battle that raged between fighters, forcing the enemy pods to spread out from the Valkyries and Zentradi forces. Broli covered the last of his men with his beam cannons and head lasers as they retreated, making sure that he would be the last one to leave today.  
  
Misa watched with disbelief as the SDF-102 fired a massive barrage from her laser turrets at the enemy fighters. She knew that much of that fire was coming from the destroid battalion that had recently been moved there, but it was still amazing to think that a warship so new that it didn't even have a name could put up that kind of fight. "What's the status of our Skull and Iron Chief Squadrons?"  
  
"Sir, our fighter units are now approaching missile range!" Sara reported.  
  
"Get bearing and distance from the nearest Cat's Eye!" Misa yelled.  
  
Corina looked at her tactical board and frowned. "The nearest Cat's Eye is too far out of position. We'll have to wait for them to catch up to the fighter wing."  
  
As the UN fighter group fell back to safety behind the wall of suppression fire from the SDF-102, Broli's fired the last of his micro missiles from the FAST packs in his legs before switching to battloid mode and cutting lose with his gunpod. The combination of shells and missiles destroyed more than a dozen battlepods at once. "Don't bother with that Cat's Eye!" He shouted, "I've got their positions for you... Enemy fighter group is approaching at course 227 minus 18, range 500, speed 11, spread pattern Sigma 397!" Broli dove quickly to avoid fire from two Quadrano suits that had pulled in behind him, and then emptied his gunpod into both of them before continuing. "They've got about 80 Quadrano fighters and at least 200 battle pods, supporting 6 to 10 corvette type ships and two destroyers!" Broli locked down the beam cannon over his shoulder and dropped two battlepods one after another before burying his fist in the third one and crushing the pilot's skull. "We can't keep this up for long, hurry up with those missiles!"  
  
In his fighter, Hikaru could see the enemy clearly on his scopes. It wasn't all that much bigger than a large Zentradi attack group, not counting the number of small warships. "Skull Zero to all units, fire on my command!" All of the fighters were in range now. With this many fighters, all armed with reflex weapons, this could be a very short battle. "Ready..." He said as his computer programmed and checked the spread pattern. As he watched, Broli's squadron suddenly boosted away from the battle, followed closely by the friendly Zentradi mecha and finally by Broli himself, who actually flew backwards in gerwalk mode so he could keep the enemy fighters at bay. Finally the computer was programmed and the missiles had their targets, making sure all the friendlies were out of the kills zone. "FIRE!" He shouted. Nearly 50 reflex warheads plowed into enemy formations like angry bees, passing the friendly fighters ahead of their targets and detonating in the midst of the onrushing enemy craft, vaporizing most of them instantly. Hikaru was blinded for a moment by the flash from the explosions, but he quickly recovered and started scanning for any fighters the bombs missed.  
  
As he scanned ahead, Broli's Valkyrie pulled up along side him. "Captain Ichijo, we have to get those warships! If they get away, they'll come back with reinforcements!"  
  
"Right. All squadrons, engage the enemy! Skull Squadron, follow me! We're gonna have to take down those ships before they blow the whistle on us!"  
  
"How sir?" Asked Lieutenant Harper of the Iron Chief's squadron. "The others are launching, but there's no way they can get there in time, not with all that's going on out here!"  
  
Hikaru had an idea. "Hey Broli, I need you for a very special assignment." Hikaru switched to battleoid mode and pointed with his finger. "You think you could fly THAT?" Broli stopped in space and saw that Hikaru was pointing towards where the SDF-102 was blasting away with it's laser cannons.  
  
"If all we have to do is fire the main cannon, it should work fine. But do we even have that much time?" He asked, checking the distance to the ship with his radar.  
  
"It's the quickest way I know of! Hurry up!" Broli didn't have to be told twice. As Hikaru and the other Lightings tore into the enemy fighters with their gunpods, Broli quickly set his fighter down on the hull next to the bridge. He entered though an airlock in the command tower and rushed past several crewmen to secure the bridge. "Who's the XO here?!" He shouted as he burst into the room.  
  
A young officer turned around from his consol in the front of the room."Lieutenant Mike Gallow at your service, Commander!" Broli noted with satisfaction that the kid looked like some kind of shrunken Roy Fokker. He decided maybe this was a good sign.  
  
"Get the main cannon ready for firing! We have to take out those ships before they can fold out of the system!"  
  
"Right sir!" The young ensign seemed overjoyed, and Broli could tell he had been waiting quite some time for such an opportunity to fire the cannon. He ran over to the radar screen on the side of the bridge and checked the status of the enemy ships. 8 of the corvettes were charging the Megaroad, but the Zentradi escorts were wiping the floor with them as they come into range of their laser cannons. There were two destroyers behind the main battle zone that had yet to do engage in fighting, and Broli noticed an energy buildup in their furnaces. They were getting ready to fold. "Set your target to that second detroyer at the far side of the formation! We have to fire before they fold again!" Broli recognized the thin redheaded girl standing at the tactical officer's station as Ensign Ameila Ryder. He had met her before on the Megaroad when he had first arrived, and she had given him a tour of the ship. Now she was inputting target information for the navigation bridge, who's duty it was to orient the ship so the main cannon could be fired accurately. But she was in complete control of the weapon itself.  
  
"This is Gunsight Two, calling all Valkyries! We're firing the main cannon! You now have 30 seconds to clear the line of fire!" Even as he spoke, the forward hull of the ship divided itself into two separate halves in preparation for firing. The main cannon was now open, but Broli hoped they could get off the shot before those ships refolded out of the system. "Systems ready! Energy level rising! Taking aim..." Lieutenant Gallow reported from his consol. Electrical energy began to arch between the two hull sections of the main cannon as reflex energy began to condense between them.  
  
Broli watched Ensign Ryder flip up a large metal safety switch and place her hand on a leaver in the recess of her consol. A light on the weapons display screen stared to flash yellow, and then it glowed a steady green. They were ready. "Open fire!" He yelled.  
  
The Ensign Ryder pushed a button on the leaver and slammed it forward. Outside, Broli could see the arcs of energy suddenly increase intensity before coalescing into a massive wave of reflex energy that exploded from the ship toward the enemy fleet. As the Valkyrie fighters cleared a path for the blast, a wave of energy cascaded over the remaining fighter pods and powered armors, disintegrating all of them in less than a second before sweeping onward towards the destroyers. The beam struck the first destroyer at it's midpoint, destroying it completely as the energy wave tore it apart. The other destroyer, though not sustaining a direct hit, buckled and collapsed as the wash of energy from the cannon crushed it's hull to bits. Both destroyers were now gone, as were most of the corvettes that had been around them. The other ships that had been charging the colony fleet were blasted into stardust a moment later by a combined salvo of laser fire from the gunners on the Bacta-Quedrali and the Megaroad.  
  
"Direct hit, sir!" Reported Ensign Mike, stating the obvious.  
  
"It's not over yet! Navigation, come to 149 minus 73. Prepare to fire a second burst from the main cannon!"  
  
Amelia checked the power levels on her consol. "Sir, we'll need about three minutes to recharge the capacitors before we can fire again!"  
  
"That's all the time we need! Full power to engines!"  
  
On the Megaroad, the bridge crew had watched the firing of the SDF- 102's main cannon and Misa had gasped in awe as it swept away the enemy ships. "It's beautiful isn't it? You'd never know that it just destroyed a small fleet with that blast."  
  
Sara yelped in panic. "Captain, the SDF is changing course and heading toward the 3rd moon!"  
  
Misa ran to the front of the bridge and activated the com system to the SDF-102. An image appeared on the huge dome outside the bridge showing the ship's commander, and to everyone's surprise it was none other than Broli himself. "Megaroad, this moon is a base for the Supervision Army! I don't know how, but they somehow managed to conceal their energy signature from our scanners!"  
  
"I figured that. What can we do about it now? We're just going to have to fold and hope they don't follow us..."  
  
"But I already know they WILL follow us! There aren't many of them left, commander! If that base has a Proto-Deviln commander than they can rebuild their forces using our crewmates!"  
  
Misa raised a brow. "I don't have a clue what we're talking about, but there isn't time to explain now if that's true. Do what you must for now, and the fleet will cover you!"  
  
"Yes sir!" Broli said, closing the com line. He went to the front of the bridge and cast his gaze out into space. The moon was growing closer as the ship closed in, and some of the ground-based laser cannons that had survived his earlier attack started to open fire. The SDF-102 returned fire with it's own guns, and Broli noticed that Thor squadron had gathered around the command tower to protect it from the clusters of missiles that rose up from the surface. "Thanks you guys..." He thought as he watched his comrades pick off missiles with their head lasers and gunpods.  
  
"Main cannon at full power! We can fire when ready!" Said Lieutenant Gallow.  
  
"This is it. Set your target to that crater in the northern ice sheet, and reset the discharge field to minimum oscillation."  
  
Ensign Ryder started making the adjustments, but stopped halfway through. "But sir, if we do that the firing angle will be greatly reduced..."  
  
"I know! But most of that base is underground, so we have to narrow the beam so we can dig it out of there!"  
  
"Then I'' just have to aim VERY carefully!" Amelia punched up the adjustments to the system and, once again, she activated the fire control circuits. Gallows monitored the energy level from his station, but Broli could see from the lightshow between the parted hull sections that the condenser field had been properly adjusted. "Locked and ready!" reported Gallow.  
  
"Ensign, rcs thrusters at your discretion. Take your best shot!"  
  
She adjusted the ships attitude slightly and then pulled back the leaver. "Now firing!" Once again, she pushed the button and slammed it forward. For the second time that day, the main cannon unleashed a wave of reflex energy that destroyed everything in it's path. It vaporized the missiles and fighters that rose up from the base to attack the ship before flash-boiling the ice over the base instantly on it's way to striking solid ground. Deeper and deeper it tunneled until it reached the hollowed out factory block once used by the Supervision Army in wars against the Galactic Republics. The blast tore through everything in the base, causing a chain reaction that igniting all of it's reflex furnaces at once. The explosion underground was evident only by jets of hot gas that erupted in geysers from beneath the ice, and the fact the entire surface of the moon over a 10 kilometer area heaved and sank several hundred meters lower.  
  
Broli stood up from the captain's chair and patted Amelia on the back. "Great shot, Ensign Ryder!" He said warmly.  
  
She turned around and simply beamed at him. "Thanks Captain. It's an honor to serve under you!"  
  
Broli blinked heavily. "Uhhhhh... actually I haven't been assigned as this ship's captain. I'm in command of the Viper Squadron right now, and the only reason I'm here is because we needed the big gun."  
  
Lieutenant Gallows was grinning like a cat. "Well maybe you SHOULD be captain! Aren't you a commander type Zentradi?"  
  
Broli shrugged. "Yeah, but I was engineered for field command, like a fighter squadron or a shock trooper's division. I'm not exactly cut out for command of a battleship like Britai." With that, Broli turned and left the bridge, heading back down to the airlock where he had landed his fighter. He was feeling tired now, almost depressed for some reason. While he couldn't explain it, and he couldn't seem to shake it, the feeling just wouldn't go away. Only after he'd reported in and saw Corina's smiling face did he realize why he was so gloomy.  
  
On the flight back to the Megaroad he realized he had missed her company, and he began to wonder if this feeling was what the micronians called love. He decided he would have to get back on Corina's good side again at any cost, but he still felt uncomfortable about her romantic interest in him. Thought he knew he couldn't avoid it forever, he was dreading the possibility that sooner or later she would force him to sleep with her. He brought his fighter around behind the ship and hailed the bridge. "This is Viper 100 calling Delta Control. Request bay clearance."  
  
Corina appeared on his monitor again, still smiling proudly. "Broli, set down near docking bay 12. And once again, nice work out there!" She winked at him, and Broli nearly folded in on himself.  
  
"Crazy micronians! It's a wonder they're not extinct by now!" He said to himself. His mind began thinking of ways to manipulate Corina in not mating with him. "C'mon, THINK Broli! There's gotta be a way out of this..." He thought as he brought his fighter in for a landing in docking bay 12. He decided that there was only one man alive who could help him now. 


	5. Chapter 4: Moving

Chapter 4: Moving  
  
--March 7, 2016--  
  
--18:25--  
  
Phoenix. That was the unofficial codename given to the SDF-102 for combat operations. But when people thought about it, it fit the ship better than anything else they could come up with. It was the ship that rose from the ashes of a defeated army to become their newest battleship, and so the ship was named SDF Phoenix.  
  
Even with a name, the ship was far from complete. As a gunboat, the main weapon of the Phoenix had been it's main cannon. But it had been armed with little else than destroids and small gun turrets when it went into combat that first time. As powerful as it was already this new ship was not nearly as formidable as the Macross. Construction teams worked on the new ship round the clock, installing new weapon systems and armor plating over the old, as well as a dedicated fighter bay for the 10 Valkyrie squadrons that would soon be added there. Every day, the ship seemed to look a bit more like the Macross, but no matter what they could change on the ship it still retained the sleek, predatory look as when they first discovered it.  
  
Misa had finally made her decision about the commander of the Phoenix. Broli would be captain; there was no one better. No one had been less satisfied by the appointment as Broli himself, who insisted that he was never created for command of a battleship. In the end, it was Hikaru who convinced him to sign on, reminding him that proto-culture is a dynamic environment and that the universe is scarce with absolutes. At first he hesitated, but after catching a playful glance from Corina in the officer's club, he couldn't accept the assignment fast enough.  
  
With the threat of Supervision Army survivors looming over their heads, Misa decided it was time to change course. The Megaroad colony fleet would set course for the center if the galaxy where the population of stars was denser and they might be able to search more quickly. As soon as the fleet had completed it's first in a series of long range defolds, Misa took a shuttle to the Zentradi battleship Bacta-Quedrali to meet with the Zentradi archivist known to the humans as Dr. Varcus. Like Exodor, Varcus was a very short Zentradi, but he still towered over Misa by more than 6 meters. "Welcome aboard Captain Ichijo. I got your message, and I searched our files for the information you requested."  
  
"And did you find it?" She asked, standing on a catwalk next to his computer consol.  
  
"No. I'm afraid was destroyed during the Second Supervision Wars. But I did manage to find the next best thing. It may not be the homeworld of the proto-culture but it was relatively un-touched by proto-deviln occupation. There probably isn't anyone still there, but much of their technology should still be intact."  
  
That was good enough for Misa. "Show me." She said.  
  
Varcus tapped a command into his consol, and Misa could feel the catwalk she was standing on vibrating with each tap of his massive fingers. The holographic screen in front of her lit up with the image of an Earthlike planet with three moons. "This is the planet Gallaron. Our last records were updated by a computer system on this world 6 millennia ago. During that time, the planet was hospitable but uninhabited, and much of it's machinery was useable. But there's a problem." Varcus punched up a display of several hundred Zentradi warships in near orbit of the planet. "Gallaron was a strategic target of the Supervision Army, so we have since established a garrison of more than 500 battlships to guard the two factory satellites orbiting the planet."  
  
"TWO satellites? What the hell for?"  
  
Varcus sighed. "We Zentradi are a race of warriors. We used to leave it up to our creators to manage and repair our equipment, but they are mostly extinct now and those that are left have less knowledge of the technology than we do. Until we met you micronians, we had never fathomed such a basic concept like fixing things when they broke down. We always left it up to the proto-culture technicians to do it for us, or we just did our best to ignore it."  
  
Misa thought about what he was saying, and then she realized the point he was trying to make. "One of those satellites is dead?"  
  
"Both of them are. The second one was placed in orbit when the first one was abandoned, and then it too was damaged by a Supervision raid and it hasn't functioned since."  
  
Misa grinned now. This wasn't what she had in mind, but it would have to do. "Thank you Varcus. You might want to tell Captain Gouraz that we'll be performing another fold soon."  
  
Varcus saluted her, a custom Misa had not expected him to know, and then left the room to confer with his commander. Misa made her way back to her shuttle and returned to the Megaroad as quickly as possible. She had work to do.  
  
******  
  
--19:59:59--  
  
There was a knock of the door. Minmei glanced at the clock just in time to see it strike 8:00pm. Richard was right on time, once again. It was a game they had started to play. Minmei found he had a truly uncanny knack for appearing on her doorstep at the exact moment she expected him to.  
  
"Hi Rich!" She said, throwing the door open and launching into his arms.  
  
"Minmei!" He said, catching her. The two embraced for a few moments, invigorated to see each other again. "Am I late?"  
  
"No." She said. "You're right on time, as always."  
  
Richard and Minmei walked hand in hand down from the back porch of her condo and around the corner to the bus stop. "So where are we going tonight?" She asked playfully.  
  
"I thought we'd catch a flick, and then maybe I'd cook for you."  
  
"Skip the movie. Let's just have dinner."  
  
"We haven't been to a movie since we started seeing each other. You never know, it might be fun."  
  
Minmei sighed. "Okay fine. What movie you want to see?"  
  
"Well, I wanted to see Harriet's Demise, but I don't think you'd like it. And then there's Small White Dragon, but that's a Kung-fu flick so I don't think you'd like it either."  
  
Minmei would have died laughing if she didn't know he was being serious. "You're right. I hate violence. Why don't we see Shining Star? I heard that that's a love story. You may not be a romantic, but I am and I think it would really soften me up for your cooking."  
  
Richard smiled at her. "You're wish is my command." He said, leading her to the bus stop.  
  
The 8:15 bus was slightly less punctual than Richard, but Minmei didn't really mind. It was only about 5 minutes late, but it didn't matter because the movie started at 8:45. Minmei and Richard always talked the most during the 10 minutes bus ride to the movie theatre. "So, did you ever find a new roommate?" Minmei asked.  
  
"Nope. There was this guy from across town and he sounded cool on the phone, but I don't think it would work out."  
  
"What's wrong with him?"  
  
"He's a Zentradi." Richard said. "I don't trust those people."  
  
"Oh, lighten up! Some of my best friends in Macross City were Zentradi. They're not all bad, just give them a chance..."  
  
"I just can't let it go. If it weren't for people like you and the others on the Macross, we'd be extinct now."  
  
"But if it weren't for Britai and his battle fleet, even the Macross would be gone now. Like it or not, I owe my life to those very same Zentradi you despise so much."  
  
Richard smiled again. "Minmei, we've been over this before. I can't change the way I feel."  
  
Not far from the theatre, the bus stopped near the army barracks, and Broli and Corina boarded arm in arm. "I can't tell you enough how sorry I am." Broli was saying.  
  
"Don't worry about it, it's my fault. I shouldn't have rushed you into it like that. But from now on, please let me know when you feel uncomfortable."  
  
Minmei caught Richard glowering at the couple. "Richard, please try to keep an open mind. He's here because he wants to learn about us. Most Zentradi have never seen a woman before."  
  
Richard growled. "Looks like he learns fast." He said, glancing back over at them.  
  
Minmei looked over again and saw the two of them share a long and deep kiss. She tried to think of something else to say but there was no need. They had arrived at their stop. As soon as they were off the bus, Richard was back to his old gentle self, but Minmei didn't dare mention to him that Corina and Broli were people she knew and respected.  
  
In the theatre, Richard bought popcorn and they took seats in the back row. He held onto her hand for the first part of the movie, by the second half of the movie they were clinging to each other, almost afraid to let go.  
  
Lost in a daze of emotion, Minmei and Richard eventually made their way back to his apartment on Galaxy Boulevard. As promised, Richard heated his stove top and got to work on a strip of salmon and a pair of lobster tails. He was an excellent cook, as Minmei had come to realize and even adore about him. He made it all seem so easy, the way he seemed to know when it was ready, or when to add oil or spices. And he knew a thousand cooking tricks that Minmei, even knowing what she did from watching Aunt Lina and Uncle Max, had never seen before. Finally, it was ready.  
  
"Smells good." That was an understatement. Minmei's mouth was watering.  
  
"Hope you like it." He said, placing a plate in front of her.  
  
Minmei didn't even wait for him to sit down, but started immediately on the salmon. Richard watched her for a minute or two before he joined her in eating. This was the third time he had cooked for her, and as with the other two times, neither said anything for almost an hour. Even after they were finished with the dinner, neither could think of anything to say. Usually, Richard walked her back to her apartment and kissed her goodnight. But this time Minmei took control. "You still need a roommate?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"What if I moved in with you?" She said plainly. "I've got a steady job at King Lao's and I've got some cash saved up in case of situations like this. If I split the rent with you, it'll still be cheaper than my old condo. what do you think?"  
  
"I could think of a million reasons why it's a good idea. What worries me are the reasons why it's a bad idea, the ones that might not seem obvious yet. I don't want us to make a big mistake..."  
  
Minmei leaned over the table and kissed him deeply. "Don't worry about anything. If there are problems, we can overcome them together."  
  
They stood there, lost in each other's eyes for almost 10 minutes. At length, Richard felt he was inclined to agree with her. "I love you, Minmei." He said.  
  
"I love you Richard." She kissed him again, and then added, "But please don't help me move my stuff. I'd feel guilty if you pulled something."  
  
--March 8, 2016--  
  
--07:20--  
  
The following morning, Corina returned to her station on the bridge, relieving Lieutenant Ketterwell and signing in. She did not notice Captain Ichijo was already on the bridge. "Morning, Corina." She said. "Have a good time with Broli last night?"  
  
Acting on instinct, Corina stoop rigid and smoothed the wrinkles in her uniform before her judgment reminded her of just how easy going Captain Ichijo really was. "I think he's gotten used to me. But he's still afraid to come into my apartment. I've met high school boys with more courage."  
  
"Well you'll have more dates, I'm sure. But just in case, you'd better plan something big for the two of you. There's a chance you might never see each other again."  
  
Corina turned around and looked at Misa, but she could not see her eyes beneath the shadow of her officer's cap. "Sir, the SDF-102 isn't ready for active duty yet. Can't he stay on for just a little…?"  
  
"The ship is undergoing it's last upgrades and repairs. As soon as those are completed, We'll be going into battle."  
  
"Battle sir? This is a colony ship! It can't fight!"  
  
"I know. That's why the Megaroad will be staying behind the battle lines."  
  
"I don't understand."  
  
Misa stood up and locked the rear hatch to the bridge. "What I am about to tell you cannot leave this room." She said, opening a com line to Captain Gouraz of the Bacta-Quedrali.  
  
"I got your message, Captain, and we are on a secure line. What did you want to say?" The Zentradi officer seemed anxious about something.  
  
Misa took a deep breath. "Prepare your ships to move out. Our destination is the Gallaron System, and we will be making the transit with four separate fold operations."  
  
Everyone on the bridge was confused, but Captain Gouraz was mortified. "Are you insane?! We can't take this fleet to Gallaron! They'll blast us to bits before we even get close!"  
  
"We might not have to fight through all of them. We might just be able to convince them to fight on our side."  
  
Gourz prepared another protest, but then he seemed to understand. "You propose we perform a Minmei attack?"  
  
"Exactly. They'll join forces with us."  
  
Corina, like the rest of the bridge crew, were confused. "That might work sir, but what's your plan? What's in the Gallaron system anyway?"  
  
"Now listen up people, and you too Captain. It is my intention to proceed to the Gallaron system to either enlist or destroy the defending Zentradi fleet there. Furthermore, I do this with the intention of capturing both factory satellites for the UN Space Government. In doing so, we hope to not only build up our forces for the further defense of Earth and ourselves, but also to recover lost proto-culture technology that has been lying dormant on the planet surface for several thousand years."  
  
Gouraz stroked his chin. "The Zentradi fleet there would have no reason to go there except to find food, considering that there isn't anyone left alive down there."  
  
"How many ships do they have there?" Corina asked.  
  
"Slightly more than 500 ships of varying classes. Varcus sent me the details this morning, and I think we might have a real chance if we use Minmei. With their factory satellites out of operation, they're probably less than 100% operational."  
  
"Well we'd better contact HQ about this. They might not approve of this mission." Corina sounded less than optimistic about this mission.  
  
"I already know they won't approve. That's why I'm not going to tell them until AFTER we capture the planet."  
  
The bridge officers were flabbergasted. This was totally uncharacteristic of Captain Ichijo. Even Gouraz was shocked, but he would respect her command even if he didn't agree with her. "Captain Ichijo, you do realize that Admiral Britai Kidronak has recently been appointed as commander of the UN Spacey's armed forces? I'm sure HE'd except your proposal and he'd want to send you more support…"  
  
"I don't want to have to bother Admiral Britai with this. It's something we have to do on our own."  
  
Gouraz tried to say something, but then he seemed to realize what Misa was planning. He had an almost mischievous grin on his lips now. "As you wish, Captain. It will be done." He saluted and turned off the monitor.  
  
Corina was boiling over with anxiety. "Captain, we're due to send in this month's progress report. What should we tell them?"  
  
"Leave that to me. I'll take care of everything."  
  
"But sir, Why are we…"  
  
"You have your orders Corina! Prepare the ship for hyperspace fold! Gallaron is almost 3 days travel from here, so you set fold coordinates for system L-1993A as our first stop!"  
  
Corina had never been so unsure in her life. She wished she new why the Captain was acting so strangely, but she decided it would become painfully clear soon enough.  
  
In System HJ95B, 21 spacecraft orbit a ringed gas giant now totally devoid of life forms. But then there is a flash of light and a change in the gravitational field, and suddenly there are only 15 ships. Another flash, and another, and all of the Zentradi warships are gone. Only two remain in this system. The SDF-2 Megaroad, and it's newest companion the SDF-102 Phoenix. And then, with one final flash of light, the two majestic space ships vanish into hyperspace. When they emerged again, they would be more than 200 light years away, bringing them still farther from the world which gave them life. 


	6. Chapter 5: Operation Minmei

1 Chapter 5: Operation Minmei  
  
--March 19, 2016--  
  
--10:30--  
  
Macross City was the largest and most prosperous city on Earth, not that that says much. It's city limits were well defined, and there were no suburbs. Once you pass the last house in the town, you were confronted with an endless expanse of harsh barren desert region, pock-marked with craters and crash sites of Zentradi space craft, around which smaller cities have risen to life.  
  
Macross City was small compared to the major cities that came before it, with a population of slightly more than 300,000 humans and Zentradi. For this time period in Macross City, as with the rest of the cities of the world, the most lucrative business to be a part of is the construction companies. An almost non-stop effort has been established to rebuild the cities of the earth, and many have found success by cannibalizing the wrecked Zentradi battleships that littered the Surface of the world.  
  
The center of Macross city is marked by a legendary monolith of space exploration: the SDF-01 Macross. This ship now looms silently over Macross city, as it has for years and forever will. On the bridge of this massive ship, the leaders of the UN Space Government Confer at least once a day to read the reports from the half dozen active colony fleets roaming the galaxy is search of a home. It was a menial, though satisfying task for them, as it always gave them assurances that their people were safe and sound in the darkens of space. Each of the members of the military council, including the recently micronized Commander Britai, found the most pleasure in the peaceful monotony of the reports. But today, the report from the Megaroad brought only bad news.  
  
Britai and the others read over the message from Captain Misa Ichijo regarding the survey of the HJ95B system, as well as their encounter with the Supervision Army survivors on the second moon of the 5th planet. Britai was the first to comment today. "This is bad news. It is fortunate that they were able to destroy the enemy fleet before they could escape into hyperspace, but it is curious that she leaves no clue as to HOW she managed this feat. It would be possible it the Bacta-Quedrali deployed it's main cannon, but she's been given instructions to indicate in her report whenever that weapon is used."  
  
Admiral Samson, the Commander of the rebuilt 3rd fleet, had his own opinions. "Seems to me she probably deployed a barrage of reflex warheads and good old fashion cannon fire to suppress them. Chances are she just left out a few details by accident."  
  
Britai scratched his head. "Anything is possible. But it's so unlike Captain Ichijo." He looked through more of the report. "And I worry for the safety of the colony ship. She states that she plans to explore the center of the Galaxy for any signs of leftover proto-culture technology. But I have doubts. There may be survivors of the Supervision Army hiding there, in numbers they may not be prepared to combat with their small fleet."  
  
Chief Gloval almost never spoke during these meetings anymore. Britai was such a skilled tactician that he never had to say anything, just nod piously. But Gloval had learned a long time ago that Britai was a lousy politician. "Admiral Britai, you are right in the fact that it is dangerous to have the Megaroad venturing into an area we know to be dangerous. But as long as the ship is out there and we are here, it remains under Captain Ichijo's discretion. The question becomes weather or not to send reinforcements to their aide?"  
  
Everyone around the table seemed in favor the decision. "ARMD-15 and ARMD-16 have just completed their shakedown missions, and they can be deployed with the 6th fleet to rendezvous with the Megaroad after about 8 days hard travel." Admiral Bennet was the 6th fleet's commander, so it was understandable that he'd want to exercise his new command in what they all knew was probably a milk run.  
  
Chief Gloval lit his pipe for the first time in a week. "Bennet, I think this mission calls for something we cannot give the Megaroad easily. What's needed here is faith, faith in our ship, faith in her Zentradi escorts, faith in her captain, and most of all, faith in the Ichijo Report as truthful. If Misa had wanted reinforcements, she would have asked for them."  
  
"I have 4 attack carriers loaded and ready for combat. We wouldn't even have to join them, just shadow their fleet from a distance in case they call for help…"  
  
"I'm sorry Bennet, but I can't allow it. And besides, your fleet will be leaving in two months with Megaroad 7. If something should happed to you and your fleet, we'd be forced to delay the launch for several months until the factory satellite could produce replacements."  
  
Britai sighed heavily. "So what now? We sit here and hope for the best?"  
  
"Exactly. If anything happens to that ship, we can send a contingent from the defense forces or even one of the nearby colony fleets to investigate. And just to put all of your minds at ease, I will be sending reinforcements to the Planet Eden as a forward position in case the Supervision Army comes lurking our way. This decision, is final, and I will hear no more discussion on the matter until the next report from Captain Ichijo."  
  
There was a chorus of dissatisfied grunts form around the table, but no one dared defy Chief Gloval once he'd made up his mind. "As you wish, sir. But I still think we will live to regret this." Britai said, standing from the table and vacating the room.  
  
--March 20, 2016--  
  
--23:30--  
  
There was a knock on the door, Minmei answered reluctantly. She had only been living with Richard for a few days, and she was concerned that some of his friends might pay him a visit and recognize her. As usual, she opened the door just as much as the deadbolt chain would allow, peeking through to see the visitor outside. "Minmei? Is that you?" Someone said.  
  
Minmei started to say no, but at the last moment she recognized the voice and opened the door all the way. "Hi Misa. How'd you know where to find me?"  
  
"I followed your forwarding address form your condo. I can't believe you moved in with a man! You two getting serious or something?"  
  
Minmei blushed. "I don't know. We have a good thing going right now, and I'm not certain where we should go form here. I mean we haven't even… you know." Misa laughed out loud, but Minmei hushed her quickly. "He's asleep now, so try and keep your voice down."  
  
"I'm sorry. Anyway, I came here just to see how you were doing, and to ask a huge favor from you. I hate to ask this but…"  
  
Minmei sighed. "You want me to sing and Miku's birthday party, don't you? Well…"  
  
Misa cut her off quickly. "I had considered that, but actually, I need something a lot more important. I need to you sing in battle."  
  
Minmei stared for a moment and then shook her head sadly. "I swore to myself I would never do that again. I'm through signing, especially to motivate soldiers. I makes me feel like I'm betraying all those people and Zentradi out there who enjoy hearing me sing, because in the end that's exactly what I'm doing. When they hear my voice, it's always the last thing they hear before a reflex missile scatters them into space."  
  
"I know how you feel. It's as if you're sending all of those people to their deaths, but Minmei I'm telling you we need you now more than ever. You see, we've finally found a homeworld but it's being guarded by a Zentraid fleet. I need you to sing to them."  
  
Minmei stamped her foot. "You don't need me in person! You have recordings, and you have some of the holographic programs I wrote right after the war. That might even work better than having me do it in person."  
  
Misa was becoming frustrated. "I don't understand. You used to love that life, coveted by both soldiers and civilians. You had a talent that remains unchallenged by anyone on this ship…"  
  
"Forget it. I'm not doing it ever again. I said goodbye to that life years ago. When I said goodbye to Earth. And nothing you or Hikaru could do would change my mind!"  
  
Misa held her finger to her lips, reminding Minmei to keep her voice down. "I'm sorry Minmei. I just thought maybe you'd enjoy one last call to fame. I guess you're too tired now."  
  
"It's not that at all. It's Richard. I don't want him to know."  
  
Misa was stunned. "He… he doesn't know about your career?"  
  
"He has no idea. And I'm afraid to tell him. If he ever found out, I'm afraid he'd leave me."  
  
"Why would he do that? I think he'd be excited…"  
  
"But I lied to him. I told him I was a waitress from the Macross, not a…"  
  
"But that's true. You ARE a waitress. You were a waitress then too, with you Aunt Lina and Unlce Max. I guess you just left this part out."  
  
Minmei sat down on the couch and stared at her feet. "I won't participate in the battle, but I understand that you'll be needing my services later, after it's all over and done with. I'm available if that's the case, just as long as Richard never finds out. I want him to love me for who I am, not because I'm some famous superstar."  
  
Misa understood, so she began making her way to the door. "Your secret's safe with me. But make sure you do something bout his friends. One of them just might spill the beans if he happens to mention your name where he works."  
  
Minmei led her to the door and hugged her. "Thank you for everything, Misa. I'm sorry I couldn't have been more help."  
  
"Oh, don't worry about it, really. A recorded broadcast works just as well, you know that. Actually, I wanted to do it for you. You've seemed so board and distant since we launched. I worry about you sometimes."  
  
"I'll be fine as long as I can be with Richard. You have no idea how wonderful I feel whenever he's around. Anyway, it's late and we both better get to bed."  
  
Misa smiled. "This is a one bedroom apartment. You expect me to believe nothing ever happened between the two of you?"  
  
Minmei growled in disgust. "Absolutely not! Richard is true a gentleman! He'd NEVER convince me to move in with him just for that!"  
  
Misa winked playfully. "Okay, Minmei. I believe you." She started giggling, and Minmei started closing the door.  
  
"Tell Hikaru I said goodnight. And give Miku a big hug for me."  
  
"Fine. And you tell that gentleman fiancé of yours that I said good luck!" Misa giggled again and made her way out of the building.  
  
Minmei closed the door and retired to the bedroom, where she found Richard sleeping peacefully in the bed they had been sharing for several days. "My fiancé… well not yet anyway. But hopefully soon…" She quickly undressed and climbed into bed next to him, and in mere moments she too slipped into a deep sleep, comforted beyond words by the presence of the one she loved.  
  
  
  
--March 21--  
  
--00:45--  
  
Three Valkyries with fast packs were maneuvering in space near an asteroid field that had been concealing a Zentradi recon fleet. These three planes now swerved and banked to avoid laser fire from the Zentradi vessels that were pursuing them. "This is Splinter 801 calling Gunsight! Enemy ships sighted in sector bravo! They're heading strait for you!"  
  
Lieutenant Mike Gallow relayed the information to Commander Broli as was his duty. "Skipper, they're here! They seem to be ahead of schedule by several hours!"  
  
"Or we're behind schedule. How many are there?"  
  
"Splinter squadron confirms three destroyers and… 9 picket ships. They're falling back, awaiting orders."  
  
"Tell them to return to ship immediately and reload all weapons. Ready the main cannon and prepare to fire. And tell the Bacta-Quedrali to do the same."  
  
"Aye, sir!" Lieutenant Gallow had been briefed on Captain Ichijo's battle plan just like Broli had. He knew that this part of the operation would be more difficult than it should have been, but it was necessary none the less. "The battleship is responding. They're opening their main gun and preparing to fire."  
  
"Open our main cannon and target the lead destroyer. Tell the battleship to fire ahead of the formation to take down those picket ships."  
  
"Right away, sir!" The Battleship Bacta-Quedrali took aim, it's hull parting opening like the jaw of some huge space-borne whale. The Phoenix likewise adjusted it's orientation and opened it's main cannon. The two booms of the hull were ablaze with ever increasing amounts of super dimension energy, gaining intensity every second.  
  
Broli noticed the green light on Ensign Ryder's panel light up once again. "Okay. Commence firing."  
  
A huge wash of energy lanced out from the two warships toward the Zentradi patrol group as the Valkyrie fighters scrambled to clear the way. The blast from the battleship vaporized all 9 of the picket vessels and one of the destroyers in the blink of an eye, and the shot from the Phoenix slammed into one of the destroyers, reducing the vessel to a cloud of gaseous particles an instant after impact. The last destroyer suffered damage from the displaced energy that washed over it's hull, but it managed to re-fold away from the area before it's armor could soak up dangerous amounts of heat. "Enemy fleet destroyed. That last destroyer took some damage, but seems to have escaped intact."  
  
Broli sighed with relief. "Good news. That ship could return within the next two hours with it's reinforcements, so put all fighters on alert 5."  
  
Ensign Ryder seemed nervous. "How many ships will they send after us?"  
  
Broli slouched in his chair and rested his aching back. He had been on duty for 3 days without any sleep, which was just about normal for a Zentradi. But he could feel his body slowing down, and he felt the need to put in a solid 6 hours of sack time before anything big went down. "They'll send one battle group, which usually contains about 50 ships. They'll have 1 battleship, 2 command ships, 8 gunboats, 8 attack carriers, 22 destroyers, and at least 10 pickets."  
  
Amelia wished she hadn't asked. "I sure hope captain Ichijo knows what she's doing."  
  
"I'm sure she does. It sounded like a good plan at the briefing, but I have my doubts. How will we convince an entire battle group to switch sides just like that?"  
  
Mike chucked a bit. "Broli, I'm sure you've heard Minmei sing before, right?"  
  
Broli nodded. "I suppose you're right. I was speechless when I first heard her songs, and even then I was just listening to a stupid doll. But I hope these Zentradi are the open minded type. They might just flee in terror as apposed to becoming curious. " 


	7. Chapter 6: The Sound of Proto-culture

Chapter 6: The Sound of Proto-culture  
  
--March 21--  
  
--04:45--  
  
It was quiet on the Bridge of the Megaroad. Everyone was nervous, but few were actually scared. They all knew it would work, but they didn't know if it would work the way they planned it. Would the Zentradi run away, or would they surrender? Would they shut down completely, unable to function? Or would they turn on each other and destroy themselves? There were only a million things that could go wrong, but there was nothing they could do except broadcast Minmei's voice and hope for the best.  
  
As expected, some 50 Zentradi warships had de-folded into the system and were on an intercept course with the colony fleet. The strange thing was that the approaching ships were moving much slower than normal, and several of them had even stopped en route to the intercept point and were falling behind. Dr. Varcus had assumed this to be some sort of tactic, but Broli and Misa had their own theory. They were limping.  
  
Everthing was ready. Broli had picked out a recording of one of his favorite songs, the Goodbye tour recording of "Do You Remeber Love?" by Lynn Minmei. The entire fleet had thier weapons and fighter deployed and ready, and they had all run checks to make sure their deffense systems were operating properly.  
  
And so, the hour finally came. The Zentradi fleet, tailed discretely by a pair of Valkyries with surveillance equipment, came into firing range of the colony fleet. But to the amazement of everyone there, only five of them actually opened fire, which was barely a challenge for the pinpoint barrier systems of the colony fleet. After scanning the Zentradi warships for several minutes, it was determined that more than half of them were actually being towed by the larger ships in the battle group, which as it happened was short 12 warships. Instead of opening fire, the other Zentradi ships began deploying battle pods and fighters by the thousand, most of which were missing parts and some even lacked weapons. Misa stood on the bridge of the Megaroad and watched the events that unfolded before her, not truely sure what to make of any of it. "You've got to be kidding me. That's the best they can do?"  
  
Varcus opened a com line from the Bacta-Quedrali and his face appeared on the monitor. He seemed very upset about something. "Captain, our scanners show extremely low power readings from the Zentradi vessels. Most of them appear to be running on only one or two reflex furnaces. I doubt half of their ships are even fold capable."  
  
"What about life forms?"  
  
"Not one of them has a full crew on board. Three of them are un manned, probably decoys to draw our fire. Most of the battle pods appear to be run by remote. I can't be sure, but these ships appear to be exhausted from battle. And whoever they've been fighting with seems to be have the upper hand."  
  
Misa already knew what he was hinting at. "And without support from the Bodolza fleet, they can't replace their damaged ships any more than they can repair the factory satellites."  
  
"Precisely. Only the Supervision Army has the knowledge to repair their equipment, since most of the soldiers under their control are in fact proto-culture. It's possible that they have taken this time to begin operations against the Gallaron Defense fleet to reclaim lost proto-culture technology there, which may include ships and weapons of varying types classes."  
  
Misa sighed. It wasn't the best news she had heard all week, but at least the Zentradi weren't going to be a problem. "Corina, contact Broli and have him commence the broadcast."  
  
"Yes ma'am."  
  
--04:55--  
  
General Karga had walked with a limp since the first wave of attacks on his fleet 6 years ago, but he had always done his best not to show it. This usually meant remaining seated on the bridge when the crew was watching, but some times he was forced to move around more than would have been wise, and everyone knew by now his health was failing. This didn't mean much to a Zentradi, since the technology on their ship could easily keep him alive indefinitely. But his fighting days were drawing to a close, and soon his many victories as a soldier would only be a memory.  
  
Karga had not expected what he had seen when his fleet approached the new invaders. There were about 20 Zentradi ships from the old Bodolza fleet escorting some behemoth of a vessel he had never seen before. Amazingly, all of the ships in the fleet looked brand new, as if they were all fresh from the assembly line. The only way that was possible was if they had been captured by Supervisionists, or if they had somehow rediscovered the lost secrets of proto-culture. Either way, he could care less. It was time for him to die, as it was well past the time for all of them to die. The battleship around him had been so badly damaged in the last attack that it was no longer possible to man the vessel without space suits, and even the bridge was exposed to the vacuum of space through a large gaping hole from a Supervisionist battle pod that had rammed them. Parts of that very machine still littered the room around him, making it difficult for anyone to function through the clutter. He welcomed the end.  
  
Korazan, the comunications officer/archivist on the battleship, started to pick up something. "Lord Karga, we're getting a transmission from the enemy fleet. They're broadcasting on all open channels.  
  
"That's strange. Does the holo-screen still work?"  
  
"Yes, but the hard line is damaged. We still cannot transmit, only receive."  
  
"Then take that command battle pod we've been using as a transmitter to coordinate the attack. In the mean time, show me this enemy signal."  
  
"Right away sir." His com officer walked stiffly to the one working control panel in the room and received the message.  
  
First, there was music. The introduction to "Do You Remember Love?" piped over the speakers as the image formed in front of them. The first thing Karga saw on his monitor was a woman, easily one fifth his size, wearing a very strange uniform or armor of some kind. Though he couldn't understand it's significance, he noticed the garment was somewhat revealing very pleasing to look at. And then he realized, so was she. "What is that micronian wearing?" He said, more to himself than to anyone. Before Korazan could think of any type of answer, Minmei started to sing. The signal was relayed from the bridge of Karga's battleship to the battle pod they had rigged as a com tower, and to every Zentradi ship with a crew aboard. Even the battle pods in flight picked up the signal, and all of them stopped their advance to listen to the music. Karga felt his emotions stirring as the song went on, but he couldn't understand why. "What is she talking about?"  
  
"I don't know sir. Some type of code maybe?"  
  
He listened to the rest of the verse, more confused than he'd ever been before in his life. "Korazan, do you think she's talking to me?"  
  
"Our com towers are offline. There's no way she can see you."  
  
"Then what does that mean, 'I love you so'?"  
  
"It's baffling. Strange though it may seem, she is modulating her voice in a very well controlled pitch. And those devices behind her are producing sound waves in the second and third harmonic frequencies. I have no idea what purpose this serves, but I'd guess it's some type of mind control or hypnotic suggestion."  
  
"That's a good possibility. But it is very pleasant to hear, especially after fighting so long without replacements."  
  
"That it is sir."  
  
Though General Karga still felt his life at an end, he found himself hoping he would last a few more minutes in order to hear the rest of the song. "What ship is sending that?"  
  
Korazan contacted one of the few operational pickets in the fleet and had it trace the signal, and then reported in. "It's a proto-culture battleship near the front of the formation. Judging by it's armament it does not appear to belong to the Supervision Army, and much of it's equipment is very new, possibly added to the ship within the last year."  
  
"Uh huh." The General was lost in the song now, and found himself staring at the image of Minmei dancing around on the stage.  
  
Karga and Korazan listened to the second verse of the song from the Phoenix before even bothering to move or speak again. With every word, and every note, it sounded more and more beautiful. "Contact that ship. I want to know more."  
  
"Is that wise sir? They destroyed several of our ships. This might just be a tactic to keep us docile until they can deploy a squad of proto- deviln to take control..."  
  
"I don't care anymore, Korazan. Let them take control if they wish, just as long as I can listen to that sound."  
  
Korazan nodded. "I understand sir." He opened a communications channel from the battle pod to the Phoenix and was greeted by the grinning face of a commander type Zentradi. "Commander Broli Kidranik? What are you doing on that proto-culture ship?"  
  
Broli smiled wider. "Korazan. Good to see you again. Actually, I'm the commander of this vessel. The crew had me micronized so I could lead them."  
  
"The crew?"  
  
"Proto-culture. Or what's left of them. These people here are a new class of bionoid, similar to us in many ways, but more closely based on proto-culture. You might even say, they're the missing link between us and our creators."  
  
Karga stood up to the monitor. "Commander Broli, what is that sound your ship is broadcasting?"  
  
Broli grinned. "Why that, my dear General, is the sound of proto- culture in it's purest form. We've found it to be very pleasant, as it's easy to produce too. All you need is a female micronian and a band."  
  
"This micronian... I'd... well, I wonder if it might be possible to contact her. Is she on your ship now?"  
  
"No, and I'm afraid it's not possible to contact her at this time. If you like, we can micronize your crew and you can meet her in person later today."  
  
Karga's eyes bulged a bit. "If that is what proto-culture refers to as a joke, I'm not impressed. Male and female can not coexist in the same space for any period of time. To do so would be disastrous."  
  
"Didn't you ever wonder why we have that rule?"  
  
Karga looked at Korazan, who shrugged blankly. "Come to think of it, I HAVE thought about it. But I'm not about to tempt fate by trying it!"  
  
Broli stood up and gestured to someone off screen. "The rule was created by the proto-culture to keep us from forming emotional relationships with females. They were afraid we would loose our fighting spirit if we came to enjoy such pleasures. This..." Ensign Ryder stepped into view of the camera. "...is my tactical officer. She's young, but well trained and very talented. And notice, I'm standing not two feet from her and my head hasn't exploded yet."  
  
Ensign Ryder blushed a bit. "Skipper, you just want me to stand here?" She whispered.  
  
"Yeah. Relax, you're doing fine. Just stand here and smile at him a bit." Broli wispered back.  
  
Ensign Ryder smiled, and Karga took two steps back. "C-C-Commander Broli, is it safe for you to be standing so close to her?"  
  
"You'll never know until you try it. You might even like it." He said, putting his hands on her shoulders.  
  
Karga was sweating bullets inside his space suit. Though he was growing fearful of the oddities of micronian culture, he would give anything to be out of his suit for a while. "I will comply with your request. I will gather my commanders and we shall join you on your flag ship to meet this micronian woman."  
  
"Have your party meet me on our battleship to be micronized. Only as a micronian could you fully appreciate all that proto-culture has to offer you."  
  
Karga gestured for Korazan to relay the signal to the other ships. "I'll agree to that much. But know that our fleet, though weakened, still has plenty of fight left in it. If this is some kind of deception, I can promise that all of you will be destroyed."  
  
Broli almost laughed. "Fair enough. In the mean time, we'll send a few ships to tow in those stragglers in the rear of your formation."  
  
Karga's teeth were grinding as the com line closed, and once again he was faced with the broadcast of Minmei's song. He watched her dance and sing on the stage for a few more minutes before he decided to risk some unknown fate in order just to meet her. "This woman has a voice that makes life worth living. I must see her in person." With that, the great General Karga left the bridge to prepare a fighter pod for launch. Soon after, he joined the other commanders in space and together they made their way to the Bacta-Quedrali and their meeting with Minmei.  
  
--15:35--  
  
She got off work at 3:15 as usual, but she did not go home today. The call from Misa had not been a very unwelcome one, explaining how they had convinced the Zentradi to meet with them to negotiate peace, but all of them had wanted to meet her in person before agreeing to anything. Minmei had expected that, and she was willing to do that much if it meant avoiding a costly and tragic battle. Even though she was hoping not to have to sing at the event, she knew the Zentradi commanders would settle for nothing less, so once she got off from work she left a message at the apartment that one of her friends had been hospitalized in some emergency and set off to the officers club where the visiting Zentradi were waiting.  
  
On her arrival there, she was greeted with an all too familiar sight. More than 40 wide eyed Zentradi moved about the room, poking and prodding everything in sight with the wonder of small children. Unlike before, Minmei did not find this amusing; she sensed this group of Zentradi was a bit more exited than they probably should have been. As soon as she entered the room, they gathered around her and gawked like schoolboys around a supermodel. She was relieved that they seemed determined to keep their distance while simultaneously battling to get a closer look. She worked her way through the room until she located Broli and Corina, who were sitting at a long table along with Misa and four Zentradi officers in UN Spacey uniforms. "Minmei, I'm glad you could make it. I'd like to introduce you to General Karga, of the Gallaron defense fleet. He's just dying to meet you. Literally." Misa giggled.  
  
Minmei did find this amusing. "Is he one of those Zentradi who's afraid of cooties or something?"  
  
"Something like that. They have a superstition that disaster befalls any men and women who actually touch each other."  
  
"I guess that's not completely untrue." She said half joking.  
  
General Karga looked across the table and stared at her for a few seconds. Minmei felt uncomfortable about the way he was looking her over, but she could understand why a Zentradi would be mesmerized by something he had never seen before. "You are Minmei?" He said at last.  
  
"Yes I am." She said. "Pleased to meet you. I'm glad you decided to join forces with us. We've been having trouble with the Supervision Army ourselves lately."  
  
"So I've heard." General Karga looked her up and down again, and Minmei realized he seemed to be staring at her legs. "You are a very beautiful woman. Would it be possible for you to remove your uniform so we might see you more clearly?"  
  
Misa jumped in before Minmei could even react. "I'm sorry General, but micronians do not remove their garments unless the situation demands it. I'm afraid this is not such a situation." She snuck a glance at Minmei, who was trying her best not to look offended.  
  
"I understand, thank you." Karga said plainly. "You ARE the one who made that song, aren't you?"  
  
"Yes. Misa told me you saw me singing on your monitors."  
  
"That's right. I was wondering, could you sing for us today Minmei?"  
  
"I suppose I could. But you know, our people have made recordings of my songs so they can replay them when I'm not around. Maybe you'd like to go to the city and buy an album..."  
  
Korazan held several large plastic bags, which each contained several dozen video disks and CD cases. "We've been able to purchase these albums in the city. Actually, we really wanted to see you live. Until we saw you on our monitors, most of us were ready to die in battle."  
  
Minmei gasped in surprise. "What?! I don't understand!"  
  
"We've been fighting with a resurfaced branch on the Supervision Army for many years now, ever since your people defeated the Bodolza fleet. Without the ability to replace or repair much of our own equipment, our forces have descended into stagnation. Most of our fleet is in shambles and less than half of them have enough power to use their weapons, let alone fight battles. When we spotted your fleet, our plan of attack was to ram your ships with our battle pods and disable your weapon systems so that our warships could get close enough do the same. With our reflex furnaces barely functioning, it is the only effective weapon we have left."  
  
"You would throw away your own lives just to stop an enemy? That's... I can't believe it!"  
  
"Why can't you? I would have no reason to lie to you. Perhaps if we..."  
  
Minmei realized Korazan was taking her too litterally. "Okay, okay! I believe you." Minmei now had something to think about. She had never imagined a suicidal Zentradi might find so much meaning in something she completely took for granted. "And you changed you mind just because of one song?"  
  
"Yes. In fact, I'd never heard anything so beautiful! It was like I was awake for the first time in my life, and all I wanted was to hear more. I suppose this sounds ridiculous to you who have lived with this wonderful gift your entire life..."  
  
"No, I understand. I'd be glad to sing for you."  
  
Corina patted her on the shoulder. "I've got the gang ready in the back. All you have to do is pick a song."  
  
"Just pick a song? Okay, what would you like to hear General Karga?"  
  
"First, I'd love it if you could sing that one we heard from our ship. You were wearing that white... what's the word?"  
  
"Dress." Misa said. "You know the song Minmei? The one from your last concert?"  
  
"That's one of my favorites. Sure I'll sing that one. Sorry, but I don't still have the dress."  
  
"It's alright. Just as long as we can hear that beautiful song."  
  
Enthusiasm growing, Minmei and Corina crept to the backstage area of the officers club where Corina's band was waiting. Minmei had watched them perform every other Friday night for two years, and she knew they were good enough for her tastes. Corina herself was the lead guitar, Lieutenant Harper from Iron Chiefs squadron played the piano, one of the Blake twins from the missile control room handled the drum set, and Lieutenant Sara Douglass worked the bass guitar. Apparently, they'd been waiting for her quite a while. "You ready miss Lynn?"  
  
"I'm always ready. You?"  
  
"Just give the word and we'll start jammin. What'll it be first?" said Blake, who was a known Minmei fanatic. Though he always tried his best not to show it, anyone who had ever seen his bunk knew the score.  
  
"Do You Remember Love, and Angel's Paint." Minmei said.  
  
"We got time for one more." Corina said, handing her a bottle of water. "What's your favorite closing?"  
  
Minmei took a few gulps of the water before answering. "We've got a Zentradi audience today. How about... Goodbye Gentleness?"  
  
"Great idea." Said Harper. "We'll play anything you like. Let's just get to work before they tear the house down." All of them agreed, and the band moved onto the stage behind the curtain where their 'tools of the trade' awaited them, already tuned and ready. As soon as Minmei stepped up to the mic, the curtain started to open. In her mind, Minmei had hoped to just sing the songs and get it over with so she could go back to Richard. But when the music started, and the spotlight beamed down on her from the ceiling, Minmei felt a warmth inside her she had not felt in many years, a feeling she had thought lost ever since she stepped off the Macross and looked upon the scorched ruins of the Earth. She knew she had their full attention, and that they had hers. So she sang to them happily, with a full heart.  
  
As the band played and Minmei began her first song, Broli worked his way over to the back table where Hikaru was sitting. "Colonel Ichijo, I need some advice."  
  
"Fire away." Hikaru said.  
  
"It's Corina. I think she's inerested in me a bit more than I thought."  
  
Hikaru looked at him strangely. "What's wrong? Don't you like her?"  
  
"I think I love her. And I know she loves me. And that's the problem. She may feel it is time to move toward a much more... physical relationship."  
  
Hikaru laughed. "Broli, you sound just like a teenage girl on prom night! What are you so worried about?"  
  
"If she begins making advances toward me, I'm really worried that we might end up mating."  
  
"Congradulations! I knew you had it in you!" Hikaru ordered a shot of tequila from the bartender and handed it to Broli. "If she likes you that much, then you've got no worries. Just keep doing what you've been doing and she's all yours."  
  
Broli threw back the drink and coughed a bit from the afterburn. "Maybe you don't understand! I'm terrified of what might happen if we mated together! I've never been faced with such a strange and bizzare ritual in my life!"  
  
"Broli, you're thinking about this way to much. Don't forget, I've seen you together. It's only a matter of time before she starts thinking about marriage."  
  
"That's not what worries me. It's the sexual part the freaks me out. Why can't you understand what I'm trying to say? I can't handle this!"  
  
Hikaru looked at him with pitty. "Broli, I think you're comming at this the wrong way. When you get to that part of your relationship, just let Corina walk you through it. She's a smart girl with endless patience, and I know she's crazy about you. You'll be just fine."  
  
"I hope so." Broli said. He leaned against the bar and watched Corina on stage, performing with Minmei and her band. "She IS beautiful, isn't she?"  
  
"Yeah." Hikaru said, looking at Minmei. "She's really something."  
  
________________________________________________________________________  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE:  
  
What's Macross without a musical number? Well, I felt the temptation was just too strong and I felt like I just had to do it.  
  
Minmei lovers, stay tuned. In the future, I plan to take our star where she's never gone before:  
  
--GILBERT AND SULLIVAN!!-- ^_^ 


	8. Chapter 7: Future Priorities

Chapter 7: Future Priorities  
  
--March 23, 2016--  
  
--06:40--  
  
"There's three on the left! Engaging!" Hikaru changed course once again, veering in on three Glaug battle pods that were trying to outflank him. The leading pod took aim with it's beam cannons, but Hikaru quickly transformed and sprayed two of the machines with his gunpod. The third one got off a lucky shot that clipped off a piece of his right wing before Hikaru put it away with his own beam guns. He switched back into fighter mode and flew through the debris of the pod before checking the situation boards of the enemy status. There didn't seem to be much contact with enemy warships other than the destroyer that was charging the fleet and a small escort of picket ships. If anything, it was a relatively easy battle, but the excited chatter over the radio would seem to suggest otherwise.  
  
Hikaru flew around the asteroid field where the battle was being waged and listened to the com traffic, picking out individual voices from the chatter to try and make sense of the situation. "Get the one to the rear! They're brining in reinforcements!" That was Lieutenant Harper's voice from somewhere off to his right. Hikaru changed course and moved to assist him, blasting a pair of Regults on his way over with his beam guns. He saw Harper's Lighting leading a section of fighters from the Iron Chief's squadron against two squadrons of Regults that had apparently been hiding in the rocks for a chance to set an ambush, only to be ambushed themselves by the nimble Lighting fighters.  
  
"You a little busy there Harper?" Hikaru said as he approached.  
  
"Aw, stow it boss!" Harper said, firing four missiles from under his wing. Two Regults fell victim to his attack, and three more felt the fury of his gunpod as he transformed for close combat. "Now THAT takes skill!" Harper said, bragging.  
  
"Not bad Lieutenant, but watch the master!" Hikaru was out of missiles already, so he switched to battlloid mode and charged head on into the midst of the Regults. He drifted right past their formation and quickly sprayed four of them before they could turn around to reingage him. When they finally did turn to face him, Hikaru had already changed back into fighter mode and was well out of their firing range.  
  
"What's so impressive about that?" Harper said.  
  
"Never mind! Open fire dammit!"  
  
Harper was confused at first, but then he realized Hikaru's maneuver had drawn the attention of the Regults and more than half of them were flying with their back to him. Harper's three wingmen all seemed to notice this at the same time, and all four of them opened fire at once. It was all over in a matter of seconds, and all 10 of the remaining Regults were now either destroyed or drifting with a dead pilot. "Way to go commander, but how much skill does that take?"  
  
Hikaru moved up next to Harper and they moved on through the battlefield to rejoin the main skirmish line. "None whatsoever! But fighting wars has less to do with skills than it does with tactics. Fancy flying and fighting skill are nice, but sometimes all you really need is one well timed maneuver."  
  
Harper nodded. "Good point. I never thought of that."  
  
"Don't worry about it. These guys don't seem to have skill OR tactics, so we can just have fun!" Hikaru noticed something on his radar and broke formation suddenly to avoid a burst of fire from a pod far bellow him. "…Of course, you still have to keep your guard up!" He grunted under the G-force.  
  
--07:15--  
  
"Skipper, enemy is coming into range." Ensign Ryder was tracking the ship a last on her tactical scopes in the front of the bridge.  
  
Broli stood up from his chair and shook the cobwebs from his head. He had almost fallen asleep waiting for that destroyer. "Outstanding. Standby to fire reflex warheads on my command."  
  
"Missiles armed sir! Firing range in two minutes!"  
  
Broli walked over to the large radar screen on the starboard side and checked the enemy formation. They were in horrible position, and he started to wonder if the main cannon would have a greater effect. But there were 5 picket ships around the destroyer, and the way they were moving around it, the reflex warheads would have to be aimed very precisely if he wanted to take them all in one attack. "Have all forward batteries open fire. Move the destroid squadrons forward and tell them to cover the ship until we're in range."  
  
"Yes sir." Gallows said, passing on the orders.  
  
Broli felt the deck shake a little, and looked off to the right as a destroid monster, stricken by a flury of beam fire from a half squadron of Regults, collapsed in a sputter of sparks before exploding completely. "Dammit! Get some Tomahawks up here right now!"  
  
"They're already on the way sir!" Gallow said. "Sir, we're passing right through the skirmish line! Our defenses are gona have their work cut out for them!"  
  
"That's unavoidable. Range to target?"  
  
"Almost there sir." Ryder said.  
  
The Phoenix was passing through a ruthless melee of armed space craft and a galaxy of explosions that was the skirmish line. As near as anyone could tell, the Regults were loosing the battle by a huge margin, but it was still a very intense battle. The large beam cannons on the hull of the Phoenix added to the confusion, spitting pulses of energy at the Zentradi destroyer at regular intervals. At long last, the ship was through the skirmish line with a clear line of fire to the enemy ship. "We're in range! All missiles confirm lock!"  
  
"Activate reflex warheads! And FIRE!" Several large hatches opened on the front of the ship, and the Phoenix fired 6 missiles at the destroyer. The missiles covered that distance very quickly before veering off towards their spread pattern and exploding around the destroyer. The fireballs from the detonations filled the space around and between them to form one massive mini-sun which consumed all of the enemy ships. After a few seconds, the destroyer quickly disintegrated along with it's small fleet of picket ships in the midst of the great explosion, which itself faded to nothingness only a moment later.  
  
"Enemy ship destroyed." Ryder reported.  
  
"Outstanding. Have all secondary batteries and destroid squadrons commence support fire for our fighters. Begin recovery operations as soon as mop up's complete."  
  
"Aye sir!" Gallow said. "Should I contact the fleet?"  
  
"Please do. I'm sure Captain Ichijo's been worried about us."  
  
--07:35--  
  
General Karga was standing at the lectern in the briefing room of the Megaroad. All of the highest ranking officers in the fleet were either in the room, or following along on a hyperspace channel with audio and visual feed. It was only a few minutes into the briefing, and General Karga was filling them in on the tactical capabilities of the forces that had been harassing them for the last few years. "We've been seeing many ships belonging to the original creators of our people. Their most common class is a destroyer roughly 800 meters in length. They aren't especially powerful on their own, but they do have a very large energy cannon mounted on the front of the ship that can be fired about once every 5 minutes. Though the weapon is not nearly as powerful as your Macross cannon, a well placed shot can cause severe damage to even our largest ships."  
  
"What kind of fighters are they using?" Misa asked.  
  
"Their main fighter support usually consists of Quadrano powered armors and Glaug battlepods. It is believed they attained this equipment when they captured our armory planet some time ago. We were able to destroy the planet before they could produce large enough numbers of weapons, but it is still unknown how many of them they have. The fact that their attack groups are almost entirely comprised of Glaugs would suggest they have alot of them."  
  
"Obviously, your Regult pods are no match for a Glaug. I don't suppose you'd want to stock your fleet with Valyries, would you?" Misa said, joking.  
  
"That may not be such a bad idea. We have no Meltrandi in our fleet, so of course we lack Quadrono armors. As far as firepower and maneuverability, your Valkyrie fighters are a much close match for them than anything in our arsenal. If you could spare a few hundred for use by our fleet..."  
  
"We only HAVE a few hundred. We won't be able to build any more until we get on of your factory satellites up and running again."  
  
"We can wait, Captain. I'm sure a few of my people wouldn't mind being micronized if it meant piloting a superior craft. Any time you can begin to supply our fleet with fighters would be appropriate, we can wait as long as it takes."  
  
"Do we know how many ships they have?" Captain Gouraz asked over the radio, quickly changing the subject.  
  
"We don't have an exact number, but we guess anywhere between two and three hundred. Most of them are destroyers, but they do have at least ten battleships. We have yet to encounter any operational Macross class ships among them."  
  
"That's a comfort." Misa said. "Have you made any scans of the planet's surface in recent years?"  
  
"No, we've never needed to. The only time when one of our ships goes down there is to gather food or for training purposes. But if you're wondering about salvageable ships, I can tell you first hand that there are many vessels on the surface of the planet. Our soldiers usually use them for target practice by bombing them from orbit or drop simulations, but at this time there should still be a few dozen or more cruisers and destroyers."  
  
There was an electric whistle as one of the monitors in the room displayed an image of Corina on the bridge. "Sorry, to interrupt you all, but Commander Broli has just reported in that the enemy fleet in the Epsilon sector has been destroyed. The Phoenix is commencing recovery operations and will be rejoining us within the next three hours."  
  
"Thank you Corina, keep watch until we're done here."  
  
"Yes ma'am."  
  
The monitor clicked off, and Misa addressed General Karga again. "Speaking of which, I might as well ask you about those Zentradi warships we've been running into on the way to Gallaron. We've never had to fight this many in the four years we've been traveling the universe, why are they attacking us now?"  
  
"Since the fall of the Bodolza fleet, the Zentradi forces have splintered into a thousand tiny factions and sub-factions. Aside from the Supervision Army and a race of beings called the Shiar, our fleets have had conflicts with two large fleets and a dozen smaller bands of transient Zentradi vessels for some time now."  
  
"What are THEIR capabilities?"  
  
"Very little. The larger of the two main groups has 112 ships, and the smaller has no more than 80. Each fleet has but one battleship as a command vessel, but like most Zentradi fleets their most common vessels are ordinary destroyers. We do know that the smaller fleet has an unusually large number of gunboats, which makes them a considerable threat to us."  
  
"How often do they attack Gallaron?"  
  
"Rarely if ever. But they are a constant nuisance to our patrols and advanced fleets around our systems. Their main objective is really just to capture one of our vessels and cannibalize it for their use in their private little wars against nearby planets, civilizations, and each other. We've offered to pool our resources with them for our mutual advantage, but they are too ambitious."  
  
"I understand." Misa said. "General, this has all been most helpful and we'll get to analyzing the data right away. But there is one thing I think you'd like to know. Our forces have developed a defense system that can deflect enemy attacks over a given area of a vessel. It's not exactly fool proof, but it can provide protection for key areas of a ship or for a damaged section that needs to be protected. We've used it in combat with much success, and we'd be willing to install something similar in your ships while we complete the repairs."  
  
"That's a generous offer, Captain. It might very much help to balance the scale against the superior technology of the Supervision Army's fleet." Karga smiled, and then stood up to leave. "It has been a very enjoyable visit Captain, but I must be getting back to my ship as soon as possible. We have much work to do with the help of your engineers."  
  
"Go right ahead, and come back any time you wish."  
  
"Not for a while, I'm afraid. The micronization process is a very long one."  
  
--10:13--  
  
"Delta control, this is Gunsight Two, returning from battle zone."  
  
"Affirmative Gunsight. Nice work out there."  
  
"Thanks Corina, it was our pleasure. How 'bout dinner tonight?" Broli said on the visual monitor.  
  
On the Megaroad, the entire bridge crew turned around and looked at her, watching passively from their stations. "Uh... sure!" Corina said, slightly embarassed. "Where are we going?"  
  
"King Lao's, just for a change of pace." He said. "Pick you up at seven?"  
  
The two ops officers in the rear of the room giggled, and Misa tried her best to look inconspicuous even though she was silently cracking up. Corina blushed heavily. "Seven sounds good. I'll be looking forward to it."  
  
"Great. And by the way, could you wear that little black dress you had on at the club the other night?"  
  
"Okay. See you tonight." She said, just above a wisper.  
  
"See you then. Over and out." The screen clicked off, and Corina turned around to shoot an evil eye at the half dozen giggling people on the bridge. "What's so funnny?!" She said.  
  
"Nothing." Said Sara, supressing a chuckle. "It's just that you've been dating him for almost 4 months now, isn't it about time you moved on to the next step?"  
  
"None of your damn business, Sara!" She snapped. "Since when did my personal life become everbody's private entertainment?!"  
  
"Oh, don't be mad Corina. We're just bored, lonely women with nothing better to do that gawk at those of us more fortunate."  
  
"But, Captain, you're MARRIED! How come you find this so entertaining?"  
  
Misa giggled again. "Because you and Broli make such a cute couple! Hey, don't get upset about it Corina. We're all just looking out for you, so go out and have a blast."  
  
"Thanks, Captain." She said. "But if I catch any of you guys following us around like the last time, I swear I'll crack your heads open!"  
  
Misa stopped laughing. "I swear on my daughter's soul, we will do no such thing!"  
  
There was a churp on Corina's consol indicating an incomming message. "Signal from the Quedrali, sir. Dr. Varcus on the line."  
  
"Put him through." Misa said.  
  
The holoscreen in front of the bridge lit up with a display of Varcus on the bridge of the ship, Captain Gouraz sitting behind him looking at a printout. "Captain Ichijo, I have a concern about moving into the Gallaron system. We've been picking up a local phenominon around this sector of space that is dirrectly related to our proximity to the galactic core. It would seem that a large gravitational anomaly that occupies this region of space makes fold navigation difficult if not hazzardous. Correcting for this effect shouldn't be to difficult over a short distance, but longe range fold operations will be difficult if not impossible to navigate as well as extremely dangerous for the ship. You experienced a simliar phenominon when the SDF-1 attempted a hyperspace fold within the Earth's gravity well, and ended up on the opposite side of the Solar System."  
  
"You're saying that if we tried to take this ship strait to Gallaron from here..."  
  
"...we'd probably end up on the opposite side of the Galaxy."  
  
"That's no problem, even though we will have to make more stops. What's our ETA look like if we cut our routes in half?"  
  
"At this point, it should be possible to reach Gallaron in three to five days."  
  
Misa shrugged. "So we'll arrive two days later than we planned. That's no big deal..."  
  
"One other thing, sir. This gravitational anomaly effectively blocks all hyperspace frequencies over long range. It is possible to commincate between systems without interference, but after a range of about 20 light years, the signal begins to degrade and quickly becomes unreadable."  
  
"Which means that once we get to gallaron, we'll be out of direct contact with earth."  
  
"No Captain. I'm saying we are already out of direct contact with Earth. Any transmission sent back to Sol will not be recieved by their com relays with enough power to be noticed, assuming the signal reaches them at all."  
  
"Then what can we do? If we're going to build a colony on Gallaron, we'll need to be in touch with Earth."  
  
"As true as that may be, we both know you've been keeping the SDF-102 out of the reports, and you haven't told them about your mission to Gallaron either."  
  
"Well... let's just say I'm selfish."  
  
Varcus nodded. "It would seem our races have more in common than we ever dreamed. There's an old Zentradi saying: Victory is indeed a beast best eaten whole; share the bounty with no one."  
  
Misa winced a little, but she got the point, as did the rest of the crew. "You read me well enough, Varcus. Tell Captain Gouraz to prepare for hyperspace fold."  
  
"Yes sir." Varcus said as the monitor clicked off.  
  
"So now what Captain? If we can't contact earth about the colony, are we even allowed to go there?" Asked Sara.  
  
"Why contact them at all? The earliest any fleet can get here is 9 days of fold time, which ammounts to almost a month of travel time with stops and maintinence. We might as well plant our feet on Gallaron and then send a ship our beyond this gravity phenominon to relay the message back to them. They won't really care if we're late with the reports."  
  
Corina leaned against the seat-rest behind her consol and folded her arms behind her head. "You know, sometimes I wonder why you're so relaxed about everything these days. You're the only commander I've ever served under who's ever cared so little about the opinions of her superiors."  
  
Misa sat in the Captains chair relaxed a little bit. "This isn't exactly ARMD-04 you know. We're so far away from Earth that I need to have exclusive control over all of this ship's activities. I don't ask Chief Gloval or Admiral Britai or anyone else for that matter for advice on how to run my ship because any time I ask them if something is worth the risk, it takes three weeks to get a reply out here and the answer is always no."  
  
"You could still tell them about your decisions. I mean by the time a response comes in, you'll have done it already, so what's the big deal?"  
  
"But that's the thing about Gallaron. We're not really sure how long it'll take to set up a colony, and then they'll probably order us to find a safer settlement before we've got the our colony established. And no matter how far we are from Earth, I can't disobey a direct order."  
  
Corina sighed. "I guess they ARE pretty protective of us, sir. Remeber that time you wanted to find that lost SDF you spotted from Britai's ship? I haven't been patronized like that since my mother warned me about boys when I was ten!"  
  
"And I don't blame them. We were their first colony mission into deep space, so of course they'd want to make sure we got off to a good solid start. And I don't blame your mother either. You have funny taste in men."  
  
Corina growled. "Well, I happen to think Broli is the sweetest guy on the entire ship! You're just jealous."  
  
"You could be right, or it could be the fact that Broli looks so much like Admiral Britai without the crome-dome. Or it could even be the fact that I miss the feeling of DATING Hikaru instead of being happily married to him."  
  
"Speak of the devil!" Corina said as a single Lighting fighter appeared in front of the bridge in battleoid mode.  
  
"Can Misa come out and play?" Hikaru said over the radio.  
  
"Sorry Colonel, Misa's grounded for a week. Care to leave a message?"  
  
"Tell the Captain that the arrangements she asked about have been taken care of, and it should all go down like we planned it."  
  
"YES!" Shouted Sara.  
  
Corina looked around the bridge and noticed that everyone else seemed overly excited all of a sudden. "What arrangements? What's going on?"  
  
"Never mind, Corina. Tell Hikaru to meet me in D-block in 15 minutes after he's docked. You have thr con."  
  
"You're leaving the birdge at a time like THIS?!"  
  
"Just trust me Corina, for your own good."  
  
Corina growled in frustration. "Yes Captain."  
  
__________________________________________________________________________  
  
AAUTHOR'S NOTE: I know what some of you are probably thinking, but let me just say at it the risk of spoilers: No, this chapter does not explain why the Megaroad ceased communications with Earth. If you want the whole story, you're just gonna have to keep reading it. ^_^  
  
And to answer your question Norsehound, the SDF-102 Phoenix is based on the specs and picture from the Macross Mecha Designs. (http://www.steelfalcon.com/Macross/ass1.shtml)  
  
One more thing, no Minmei in this chapter for two reasons that will become obvious in the next one. ^_- 


	9. Chapter 8: Final Preparations

****

Chapter 8: Final Preparations

--March 23, 2016--

--18:50--

Corina's buzzer started ringing, and when she looked through the peephole she caught a glimpse of Broli, beaming at her through the door. He seemed to be in a very good mood today. "Hi Broli!" She said, throwing the door open.

"Hi Kitten! Ready to go?"

"Yeah. You know, you're early."

"I know. I managed to borrow the Colonel's car."

Corina's heart started pounding to the point where her chest hurt. "You have Hikaru's car?! The 2012 Lexus?!"

"That's the one."

"He's never even driven that car! It has like...2 miles on it!"

"He said it was a wedding gift from Minmei, but he never uses it so he loaned it to me for the day. I want tonight to be special."

Corina started to hope Broli wouldn't be peeling her off the ceiling by the end of the night. "Then let's not delay any longer. Onward my love!" She said, half leading half dragging Broli out of the apartment to the Hikaru's waiting Lexus.

The ride to King Laos was shorter than usual, and for a change Corina actually bothered to look around the city. Megaroad city was quite a bit smaller than she thought it was, with much of the traffic being either bicycle or pedestrian. Very few people in the city actually owned cars; even Hikaru either walked or biked almost everywhere he went, but after the 10 minute drive across town to King Laos, Corina wondered if she'd ever be willing to walk anywhere again. 

When she stepped out of the car, she noticed something very strange in the surroundings. There was an unusual number of bikes parked outside the restaurant, but the lights were off and the doors were closed and locked. She looked at the building and saw that the restaurant seemed to have been closed for the day. "Broli, is it Sunday or something?"

"No, they're open. Let's go inside."

"Are you sure?"

"Trust me." Broli took her by the hand and led her up to the door, but stopped her there as he recovered the key to the lock from his jacket pocket. "Kitten, I really think you've forgotten something."

"What? What did I forget?"

"Something very important."

"Like what?"

Broli pushed the door open and the lights clicked on. Some 50 voices inside all shouted at once. "Happy birthday Commander!" 

Corina tried to move, she tried to speak, and she tried to show some kind of expression, but her feet were nailed to the floor, her voice was gone, and her face had turned to stone. "What the hell?!" She said at last, "Is this for real?! You mean to tell me that I forgot my own birthday?!"

Sara was standing next to the door, laughing raucously with everyone else in the room. "You did last year too, and the year before that, and if I'm not mistaken, you ALWAYS forget your own birthday, even though you remember everyone else's."

Broli nodded. "That's right. Happy birthday."

Corina leapt into Broli's arms and kissed him. "Thanks Broli!" She turned to the others gathered in the room, most of them crewmen but all friends. "You guys are the greatest!!" She dashed into the room and quickly vanished into the crowd, leaving Broli to marvel at her enthusiasm. He found the entire concept of the birthday confusing, but he had long ago dismissed it as just another micronian excuse to throw a party. Not that he minded all that much, any excuse was good enough for him.

Hikaru seemed to appear out of thin air next to him and shoved a bottle of champagne into his hand. "Lieutenant Broli, you're a lucky man." He said, patting the Zentradi warrior on his powerful shoulders.

"You're so right Colonel. She's absolutely amazing."

"Are you ready yet?"

"For what?"

"After tonight, there's about a one in thirty chance you'll be waking up in your own apartment tomorrow."

Broli uncorked the bottle and gulped down more than half of it at once. "I've done scarier things. I think I'll be fine."

"Good to know! Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go peel my wife off those jet jockeys from Buzzard squadron."

Broli took anther long gulp of the champagne before diving into the mass of people in the party. Hikaru migrated over to where Misa was laughing/arguing with several fighter pilots when Minmei appeared in front of him wearing a silk Chinese dress. "Hi flyboy. Keeping busy?"

"Hey Minmei. Thanks for showing up, it means alot to Corina..."

"Corina's my friend, it was a pleasure. But I really wanted to talk to you."

"About?"

"My boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" Hikaru was intrigued now. "Now THIS I gotta hear! What's he like anyway? Jet jockey? Grunt? He a sports jock or a movie star..."

"He's an industrial artist. And he's a bit of a shut-in. And, believe it or not, he has never heard of Lynn Minmei."

Hikaru almost laughed in her face, at the last moment he realized she was being serious. "How's that possible? Aside from Zombie Zentradi, and C.K.'s jazz band you and Corina's band are about the only live music on the entire ship! I mean, he's never done paintings of you or a billboard for one of your movies or anything?"

"I don't know how, but apparently he hasn't. But that's what's so great about it! He loves me just for who I am! I mean, after all this time I've finally found a man loves me dearly and he does it just because of ME! That's like finding gold in a sewer!"

Hikaru scratched his head. "I guess that makes me the log that drifted by..."

"You know what I mean..."

"Yeah. Well what do you want ME to do about it?"

"He'll get suspicious if we don't go out and meet some people. I want you and Misa to meet him, but lead him on like I'm just a regular person."

"But you're not a regular person."

"Yeah, but HE doesn't know that. And I wanna keep it that way as long as possible, at least until we have a baby or something."

Hikaru stared her down a bit. "You're really serious about this one, aren't you?"

"More than you could ever know."

Hikaru looked over at Misa, who was in the process of chewing out one of Lieutenant Harper's rookies for some unheard comment. "I think I can relate. Just give us the time and the place, and we'll be there."

"Thanks Hikaru." Minmei kissed him in the cheek and vanished into the crowd just as the music started up from the Karaoke machine in the corner. First up was Lieutenant Sara Douglass singing (or trying to sing) to Mariah Carey, but butchering the high notes and sending most of the Zentradi crewmen cowering in terror. Corina felt like she was floating, it felt good that at least SOMEBODY remembered her birthday. She danced with the crowd to the beat of Sara's off key yelping until the hapless tactical officer was unceremoniously removed from the little stage in the corner of the room and replaced by a Zentradi gunnery sergeant for a Barry White solo, with far more success than the eager yet untalented Sara.

Hikaru watched Corina and Broli surrounded by their friends for a minute before moving off to subdue Misa before she hurt someone. "...and just what the hell happened to chivalry anyway?! When I was a kid, men used to look out for women! They were polite and respectful around ladies, gentlemanly and civilized, and then all of a sudden there was an explosion of perverts like you who go off and say anything they like!"

The pilot she was tearing into was extremely young, barely out of the training corp and clearly inexperienced in the ways of Misa. "B-but..."

"What kind of soldier are you?! With that kind of brutish mentality, you'll be hanged for gross incompetence!"

"B-but Captain I only wanted to know if you'd met him! I didn't mean..."

"Who?" Hikaru interrupted.

"Roy Fokker sir! I saw that movie and I was wondering if it was true!"

Hikaru laughed. "Captain quit pickin on the kid! He doesn't know any better!"

Misa looked at the Ensign like a bug in a jar. "Alright, you're off the hook now Ensign. But you better watch it from now on, I'll be keeping an eye on you! Got that?"

"Y-yes ma'am!" The young man stood up, saluted awkwardly, and shot out of the building like a frightened animal.

Hikaru walked over an lightly knocked in Misa's head with his knuckles. "I remember when you put ME through my paces. I was ready to strangle you."

"But instead you married me and inflicted that little nightmare of a three year old on me. I guess this means I'll have a backup it you ever get hit." Misa said, playing with his hair.

"I don't get hit, Misa. Not while we still have to put Miko through college." Hikaru saw the door to the kitchen open up, and Lao Fei Chan appeared with a gigantic birthday cake. He saw movement from the crowd of people by the Karaoke machine that he realized it was Corina actually vaulting into the air with excitement. "Broli's gonna have a great life with that woman. Two free spirits together at last."

"You really think they'll get married?"

"Yes. And soon. Speaking of which guess who else has plans to get hitched?"

"Who?"

Hikaru pointed to the corner of the room where Minmei was climbing onto the little stage. They watched her face twist in disgust as the machine called up a Brittany Spears title, but she launched into the song like a true professional. "She says she met a man who's never heard of her before. Apparently he's some kind of artist, which probably means he's been living in a basement somewhere for the past 5 years." 

"I know, she told me about him. She LIVES with him!"

Hikaru almost blasted through the ceiling. "She's sleeping with him?!"

"Actually no, or so she tells me. Why do you bring it up anyway?"

"Minmei wants him to meet us and he wants us to paint her like the nothing girl she wants him to see."

Misa laughed. "Hikaru, do you have any idea how crazy that sounds?"

"Well it wasn't my idea. She seems pretty serious about this though, and I know she wouldn't have asked me if she didn't think she could trust me. Or you for that matter."

Misa nodded. "Fine then, I'll play along." She kicked her feet up on the table and put her head on his shoulder, whispering in his ear. "I wouldn't be surprised if Richard turned out to be a vibrator."

Hikaru roared with laughter until he noticed a commotion from somewhere else in the building. With no prior warning and for no obvious reason, two drunken marines had apparently started exchanging punches in a corner of the room near the bar. Corina caught sight of the commotion and immediately sprinted across the room, danced up the two marines and blackened both of their eyes one after another. She fought them both for almost 3 minutes, giddy as a schoolgirl on prom night, before Broli sidled up to them and cracked their heads together like a pair of cue balls. "They make such a perfect couple." Hikaru said smiling.

--22:40--

The party was winding down. Minmei and Sara had grown horse from a fierce battle of pop songs, (which most onlookers agreed that Minmei won hands down) and both opted to turn in for the night. Misa and Hikaru left after the first hour to check on Miko, but for some reason did not return to the party that night. Lieutenant Harper and Ensign Blake remained with an electric piano and a violin for those still sober enough to try and dance, though Blake actually spent more time tearing into the cake than playing music. At 11:00 pm, Lao Fei Chan and the others began dragging some the groundlings out of the restaurant, depositing them face down on the sidewalk side by side like fish at a market. MPs started to arrive and transport the inebriated officers to their barracks for a thorough ass chewing by their unit commanders, or a ruthless mockery by junior officers for those who were themselves unit commanders. Corina and Broli were the last to leave. They danced almost all night, fueled by the triple sugar rush of Corina's birthday cake, until Fei Chan tactfully informed them that it was time to close up, at which point Broli and Corina both chipped in to help clean up the mess left from the others. 

They returned to Corina's place at almost midnight, both quite sober and of sound mind, but both intoxicated by something far more powerful than alcohol. "I had a great time tonight Broli. And thanks for remembering my birthday."

"It was my pleasure Kitten, I'm just glad you had fun." Broli started to leave, but remembered something and reached into his pocket. "I forgot your present." He pulled a small wooden box from his pocket and handed it to her. "I'm sorry, I don't know how to wrap things yet."

"It's okay." Corina opened the box and almost cried. There were two wooden figures of Broli and Corina inside, each about 4 inches long, carved out of pinewood. They were incredibly detailed, and Corina noticed that they looked exactly like her and Broli. "Where did you get these?!"

"I made them."

"What?!"

"A big part of the cultural exchange was exploring creative activities other than fighting. So I had my roommate teach me how to carve wood. If I have nothing better to do, sometimes I do this."

"How long did these take?"

"I started yours when I met you, and I did mine last year. I do a little bit every day, but it doesn't take long if you do it all at once..."

Corina felt like she was melting. "How come you never told me that?"

"You never asked. I'm sorry Kitten."

Corina looked at the two wooden figures in her hand and started to tremble. "You can't give these to me."

"I have to. I don't really own anything else, just pinewood and carving knives. And I have some guns, but Hikaru told me firearms aren't usually given as gifts. I think that's kinda strange, but I wouldn't know."

"Well... thank you Broli."

"You're welcome Kitten..."

"Broli, so help me, if you call me Kitten just one more time I cannot be held responsible for my actions."

"You don't like want to call you that?"

"I LOVE it when you call me that, but this is too much!"

Broli got the impression that he had somehow offended her and turned to leave. "Then I am sorry. Goodnight Kitten." He immediately scolded himself for saying it, and though to apologize for saying "Kitten" again, but with a flash of movement Corina snatched him out of the hallway outside her apartment and dragged him inside by his collar, slamming the door behind him and locking it for the night.

--22:50--

Minmei came in to the apartment she shared with Richard and found him asleep on the couch with the TV on. She sat down next to him and rested her head on his shoulder while she contemplated her plans for them. She already knew she desired to marry this man, but the hows and whens of it escaped her. She would end up either bribing all of her and Richard's friends to ensure their silence, or she would convince him to have a very small and private ceremony with only their most trusted acquaintances present. And there was always the problem of the tabloids; keeping Richard out of the lens of the paparazzi had been tricky work when she first started dating him, but the cameras gradually lost interest when their collective bosses decided that there just wasn't that much public interest in the personal life of the retired songstress, and they'd vanished altogether after Minmei complained to Misa about harassment two weeks ago. But a marriage was something no bribery or smooth talking could keep out of the papers. She would almost have to become a whole different person...

Richard was stirring. He awoke to the scent of her perfume and put his arms around her as soon as he felt her head on his shoulder. "Hey. What happened to you? You don't usually work this late."

"My best friend's birthday party."

"Oh yeah, I remember. What's her name again?"

"Never mind. Richard, I want to take you to meet my friend Hikaru tomorrow."

"What for?"

"You don't know any of my friends, and I don't know any of yours. If we're really going to live together like this, we have to get to know about each other's lives."

Richard kissed her. "I guess you're right." He said, then added, "Hikaru isn't Zentradi, is he?"

Minmei growled at the question she knew he was going to ask. "Richard would you lighten up?"

"Is that a yes?"

Minmei sighed in aggravation. "No, he's not. But that's why I didn't want you coming to Corina's party. There were lots of Zentradi there."

Richard sat up suddenly. "Really? Any of them seem overly interested you?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Corina's an officer, and most of the Zentradi there were dedicated soldiers. And her boyfriend is a kind and decent man just like you..."

"How could you even compare me to one of those... things? They're ruthless killing machines that would exterminate all of us given half the chance."

Minmei always became frustrated when Richard got into one of his moods, but she always did her best to just ride it out. "Look, they all know me, and I know them, and I trust them, and you know there aren't alot of people in the world who I really trust. But I trust THEM because they were created for only one purpose, and that was to fight wars. All they really want now is some the life that you and I take for granted, and even the simple luxury of being able to make their own decisions. I just wish you could look past the Bodolzas and Kamjins and the other maniac warlords out there and see all the good they've tried to do for our people."

Richard stood up and they walked together towards their bedroom. "Minmei, you are truly the most beautiful and pure person who has ever lived, inside and out, to say something like that about the Zentradi. They're the same people that almost ended our entire civilization, the same people that pose a constant threat to our very species and you have nothing but love for them. And for that, I truly admire you." He paused outside the door. "Even so, I'd feel better if you'd stay away from the Zentradi from now on. It terrifies me just to think of one of those things hurting you."

Minmei groaned, more than ready to let the subject die. "If it means so much to you, then fine. I'll keep my distance whenever possible."

--March 24, 2016--

--05:00--

The little girl in the Daffy Duck pajamas plodded along in the hallway of her house, past the bedroom door of her parents, past the closet door they had padlocked to keep her from playing with her father's gun, ultimately reaching the linen closet between the bathroom and the attic stairs. As she had done a dozen times before, she climbed the shelves of towels to the top of the closet until her tiny fingers grasped the wooden box of party balloons left over from her last birthday party. She pulled the box down and searched through the many colors until she found one that matched her mood, a bright purple and yellow balloon with fiery orange streaks. Satisfied with her selection, she gleefully scampered back down the hallway to her parents room to complete her mission. With no particular urgency, she blew up the balloon and held it next to Hikaru's ear, pinching the opening with two stubby little fingers to keep it from flying off. Then she reached into the drawers next the bed and found one of the safety pins Misa always kept around just in case. She giggled to herself one last time and then popped the balloon with the pin.

Hikaru gave a startled yelp and burst awake, leaping out of the bed in a panic, heart racing, eyes glazed over from a shattered sleep, chest heaving from the rush of adrenaline in his veins. "Miko again." Misa murmured in her sleep after Hikaru caught her breath.

Hikaru finally saw and heard the three year old girl rolling around laughing on the floor, infinitely amused by her latest exercise in prankage. "Oh you think that's REAL funny don't you?" Miko only laughed harder, and Hikaru turned to his half sleeping wife still mashed into their bed. "How come she never does stuff like that to you?"

Misa grunted and went back to sleep while Hikaru collected the exuberant little mischief maker and dumped her on her own bed down the hall. "Miko, what have I told you about playing tricks on people?"

"But it's time to wake up, daddy!" she pointed to the clock next to the bed that read 5:15. Hikaru rubbed his tired eyes and headed down to the kitchen for some coffee. "Five. I just had to teach her number five. And now I can't ever sleep past five in the morning..." Hikaru heated up a pot of coffee and got dressed for the daily grind. Miko followed him, tugging at his t-shirt for attention. "Daddy, could you take me up in your airplane today?"

"No. It's too dangerous now."

"Please?"

"I told you, no."

Miko whined for a couple more minutes, but Hikaru didn't seem to be bending so she plainly gave up. "Are you gonna war now?"

"Probably not. I have to go find the bad guys so the ship can move to a new star."

"Are the bad people scary?"

"Yup. And they've got big sharp ugly teeth that could snap your little fingers right off!"

Miko wiggled her fingers around mockingly. "That doesn't sound so scary! I wanna go war too!"

"Why don't you go play war with your friends?"

"I don't wanna war with them! I wanna war with you and mommy!"

"Maybe when you get older."

"But that's a long time!"

"Not when you think about it." Hikaru poured some of the pot into a coffee cup and left the house for the trolley car that led strait to the flight deck. Miko watched him walk away and then went back to the kitchen to wait for Misa, who arrived on schedule exactly 15 minutes later.

"Mommy, can I go war with you?"

Misa poured the last of the coffee into her own mug, and yawned. "I'm not going to war."

"But you're a army people. Army people war the bad army people. Aren't you gonna war them?"

"Not today. And when we do have a battle, you have to stay right here."

"How come?"

"In case the bad guys attack the house. I need a big tough soldier to protect all our stuff, okay?"

Miko clicked her heels together and snapped off an awkward little salute. "Aye aye mommy!"

--07:30--

Broli yawned widely and stretched, feeling more than refreshed with his 5 hours of sleep behind him. He felt energetic, alert, and satisfied that Corina had enjoyed her birthday. He smoothed a wrinkle in his uniform as he headed off towards the door to her apartment, but Corina emerged from the bedroom before he could get there, wrapped in a blanket to cover herself. "How come you didn't wake me up?"

"Sara took your shift. She said you'd need it."

Corina squinted at him. "How did she know that?"

"Just a guess." Broli winked at her, and she leaned up and kissed him.

"Was it all as bad as you thought it would be?"

He grinned like a wolf. "We'll have to talk about it some time, I mean that was... interesting."

"It sure was."

Broli turned to go again, but then stopped. "I give you my word as a soldier, I'll come back alive for you."

"That's for damn sure. You're no use to me dead."

Broli laughed and left her apartment, walking down two flights of stairs to where Hikaru's Lexus waited. He knew that after he returned the car and made his way back to his ship, there would be no going back. The next time he would see Corina, it would be on the planet Gallaron.

--March 25, 2016--

--19:35--

Commander in Chief Bruno J. Gloval lit his pipe once again. He'd had a bad feeling ever since the last report from Misa, indicating that the ship was headed for the center of the galaxy and the latest developments weren't helping matters much. A seasoned officer with the engineering corps burst into his office on the SDF-Macross with a memo from the com room. "Chief Gloval sir, reports from the hyperspace relay station just came in. Contact lost with SDF-2 Megaroad shortly after last fold jump on March 3, 2016. They should have automatically transmitted a systems report after their defold sir."

"Yes I know. And the ship disappeared somewhere in the Arturo sector, yes?"

"Yes sir."

"That's the area Exodor warned me about. He thinks that the Supervision Army might still have a strong presence there."

"Should we send the 6th fleet to search for them sir? If they are damaged or in need of assistance..."

"Would we send additional ships to investigate any of our other colony ships if THEY stopped transmitting?"

The officer thought about it, but shook his head. "I doubt it sir. We're barely holding up our own defense as it is."

Chief Gloval bit his pipe for a moment. "Send this to Admiral Bennet of the 6th fleet. You're ordered to deploy ARMD-16 with an escort of frigates to the last known position of the Megaroad 01. If they cannot find any sign of the ship, instruct them to proceed towards the center of the galaxy on the most logical route the ship may have taken."

"Yes sir!" The officer jotted down the note and shuffled off to contact Admiral Bennet. 

Chief Gloval was no fool as Bennet had assumed he was, and for that matter neither was Britai. But Britai was a military man, as was plainly obvious from his Zentradi heritage, and was incapable of seeing most situations from any point of view than the most practical and realistic extremes. Gloval, on the other hand, had to appreciate the intricate political nature of their predicament. SDF-2 was so far from Earth that any complaints he could have about one of Misa's decisions would be little more than an afterthought by the time she heard about it, but for longer operations he had always tried his best no to impose his authority on her judgment, even though the Advisory Council almost always chose to interfere with whatever it was she was doing. In this case, he couldn't really blame her for whatever it was she was holding back. He had a running list of theories as to why she would be slacking with her telemetry, though an automated systems report hardly seemed like something she'd hold back in the interest of time saving... unless the ship had somehow become damaged. Either way, he could only reflect on the policy he had secretly adhered to since the launch of the first colony mission 4 years ago. "Long range bureaucracy is a dangerous thing in any century. I only hope ARMD-16 doesn't find anything out there."

___________________________________________________________

AUTHORS NOTE: This Fanfic is divided into four main parts, and you will find that each section has a main idea depicted by specific events. Kinda like watching the Star Wars Trilogy ^_^ 

This chapter concludes Part One. The main idea of this section depicts the beginning of the Megaroad's history making journey to the stars. They have found an ancient warship, preserved over the millennia by the Supervision Army, and Captain Misa Ichijo plans to land her ship on the ancient proto-culture ruins on the planet Gallaron, hopefully to find some of their technology intact and unlock the secrets of that ancient civilization. 

Part Two will depict the birth of the Legend of Megaroad. At the risk of spoilers, I will say no more, so just stay tuned. ^_^


	10. Chapter 9: The Micronian-messiah

Chapter 9: The Micronian-messiah  
  
--March 30, 2016--  
  
--17:15--  
  
Admiral Bennet was one of the last great veterans of Space War I. He had gained the attention of the UN Spacey top brass for his performance in the opening battles of Space War I, when ARMD-1 managed to successfully eliminate three Zentradi destroyers with reflex missiles. Though ARMD-1 was itself hulled in that same battle, his limited experience with Zentradi weapons and tactics served as an asset to the UN military council until the return of the SDF-Macross almost a year later. Now, Admiral Bennet was being asked to call his experience... and his blind luck... into service once again for the ultra top-secret mission to find and establish contact with the SDF-2. For this he stretched his authority just a bit, pilfering ARMD-18 and ARMD-19 fresh out of dry dock for an impromptu "shakedown cruise" along with and escort of Zentradi picket ships and a single destroyer. Under the current circumstances, it was all Earth could spare for what they all agreed was probably just a house call to everyone's favorite colony ship, but Chief Gloval knew better than most people that Admiral Bennet would probably go out of his way to run into trouble out there. That being true, Chief Gloval had been keeping an Ace up his sleeve: ARMD-22 the first of a new class of warship known as the UNS Maizuru.  
  
On the day of the mission's launch, Admiral Bennet surveyed the bridge of his flagship like an Emperor on his throne. He inspected every corner of the bridge and every consol, even the hairs on the back of his XO's head before finally deciding to move out. "Set fold coordinates to star system LD-426. We'll pick up the trail from there."  
  
"Yes sir." His executive officer programmed the coordinates then added, "These old ARMD platforms aren't very good at fold navigation sir. I'm afraid it'll take us a while to catch up to them if they're following their mission routes."  
  
"We're in no hurry, son. Let's just get underway before the next ice age." There was a dull humming from elsewhere in the ship as the fold boosters powered up. The ARMD class space carriers had been designed for fold capability, even though none of them were ever fitted with fold systems until well after the end of the war. With a flash of light and a wave of irregular gravity, ARMD-16 and its flotilla of search vessels vanished into hyperspace.  
  
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the planet, ARMD-22 Maizuru sortied from the UN dry-dock with a full compliment of VF-4 Lighting-IIIs. The ship tested its engines and maneuvering jets for an hour or so, and then prepared for its own fold maneuvers under the command of Macross veteran Captain Claudia LaSalle. With total confidence in her ship and crew, she took the bridge of her first command with a brief but rattling sendoff from Chief Gloval. They all knew the mission all too well, but it seemed a bit more solid when it came strait from the man's mouth.  
  
"Claudia, please understand that I do not expect you to take any hostile action against enemies, or make any move to support Admiral Bennet under any circumstances. As far as his fleet is concerned, you are on a regular shakedown cruise and you are here strictly to observe. Is that clear?"  
  
"Perfectly clear sir, but don't expect me to like it. You know good and well that that damn fool Bennet is going to pick a fight with the first bucket of bolts he runs into out there."  
  
"I know that, but under the circumstances there's nothing I can do about it. All I really ask is for you to be there to pick up his lifepod when he gets himself into trouble."  
  
"Yes sir. We'll get right to it." She paused for a moment and the went on, "What were the last reports from Misa? That is to say... well what kind of opposition can we expect?"  
  
"If Exodor's right... and when is he not... you shouldn't run into too much trouble out there. But anyone you DO come across will surely be a thousand times worse than the Zentradi. I know it's a shitty mission Claudia, but please try and stay out of trouble no matter what the cost."  
  
"Understood, Chief. We'll get right on it."  
  
Claudia's comm officer closed the channel, and a few minutes later the UNS Maizuru folded out of the Solar System. This new ship was much faster in hyperspace than a normal ARMD platform, and would therefore arrive at LD-426 almost half a day ahead of Bennet's fleet. Claudia decided it would give her more than enough time to do some investigating of her own, and she began to wonder what her old friend Misa was up to not to have called home in so long.  
  
--March 30, 2016--  
  
--17:50--  
  
Gallaron: the forgotten colony of the proto-culture, now a strategic target for the resurgent Supervision Army. It had been harassed by the minions of the proto-deviln for many years, and the defending Zentradi fleet, thought numerous and determined, was nearing the breaking point. The Zentradi engineers had tried to use their still limited knowledge of machinery and technology to keep their ships operational, but the knowledge contained within the proto-culture automatons of the Supervision Army enabled them to repair their damaged ships and equipment very quickly after every battle. In fact, the forces of the Supervision Army have been raiding the defenders of Gallaron for six years, striking deep into the heart of their formations and doing as much damage as possible before ever really taking or inflicting any significant damage. But with each little raid, the defending fleet grew a bit more vulnerable and weak, while the Supervision Army always came back as strong as ever. Though the Zentradi were sometimes able to destroy one or two ships of the attacking fleet, it always came at the cost of at least twice as many of their own, and it was easy to tell by now that defeat was inevitable.  
  
And then the judgment came to pass. On the evening of March 30 of the Earth year 2016, an attack fleet of the Supervision Army de-folded into Gallaron orbit, and all 300 ships of their fleet encircled the embattled Zentradi defenders and bombarded them from all sides. The Zentradi counter attack was formidable, but less than totally effective against the superior technology and accuracy of the enemy guns. Fifty ships fell in the first twenty minutes of the battle, and one more fell almost every minute after that. The Zentradi had much success with suicide runs on the enemy command ships and gunboats, but every ship destroyed in this manner came at the cost of four of their own, and they all knew from the start that it was a battle they could not win.  
  
They had lost almost half of their original strength by the time the Megaroad fleet de-folded into the system on the far side of the planet's largest moon. The ship's VE-1 squadrons kept close tabs on the battle for several minutes, making sure not to be noticed until the fleet was ready to move. After what seemed like a more than a decade of waiting, Corina finally reported. "Sir, we've confirmed it. It's the Supervision Army's main fleet. They outnumber the Zentradi forces by 60%, and the defenders are in bad shape... they're getting tarred out there pretty bad sir."  
  
Misa nodded. "Captain Gouraz, prepare your reflex warheads for bombardment. We'll hit them form behind and catch them in a pincer."  
  
Gouraz nodded, but seemed nervous about the operation. "My pilots have had very little combat experience with your Valkyrie fighters. Are you sure this is a good idea?"  
  
"You've had six years to train them, and I have faith that your warriors are quick learners. If all goes well, this battle will be short anyway."  
  
"Then we will launch. May the victory be yours, Captain Ichijo." Gouraz closed the channel.  
  
Corina switched over to inter-ship communications where Hikaru was ready to sortie with the fighter units. "This is Skull Zero to Delta Control, all squadrons are ready for launch."  
  
Misa sat down heavily in her chair as Corina gave out the orders. "Skull Zero, you are cleared to sortie. Your target package is two-zero- niner."  
  
"Package 209 confirmed. C'mon gang, let's kick em!" All at once, the sky was full of fighters. The Valkyrie units from the Megaroad and the Bacta-Quedrali swarmed towards the Supervision fleet like angry bees, flanked on all sides by General Karga's warships and his few operational battle pods. They closed in unseen from behind the attackers until they were in range, and all 1500 fighters confirmed a solid radar lock. "This is it gang. Master arm all ordinance and lock onto pre-assigned spread patterns." There was a slight shift in the formation around him as some of the planes adjusted their attitude to give their shots a straighter run. Finally it was time. Without further hesitation, Hikaru took a deep breath and squashed the trigger on his flight stick. "Skull Zero to all units, rounds out!" Answering Hikaru's signal, every fighter in the formation launched their missiles at once, followed shortly by the larger missiles mounted on all of the ships of the Megaroad fleet. Hikaru watched the plot of the missiles closing to their targets on his radar screen, and he had a brief flashback to his days in Space War I until he glanced over to his left and spotter another VF-4 Lighting on his wing. "Harper, you ever seen a full reflex missile spread?"  
  
"Only on video sir." The officer replied, his voice shaky from the tension. "I watched one of Commander Fokker's old gun camera recordings."  
  
"Then watch this carefully. There is nothing in the entire universe quite like it."  
  
Harper nodded across the distance between their fighters and turned his gaze forward. In the moments before the missiles hit their targets, he could make out the outlines of the Supervision fleet's rear line warships, some of them firing on the Zentradi forces to the front, and some taking in damaged mecha for repair or reload. But when the moment came, he had to squint through the brilliance of the explosions. The sky ahead of them filled with a galaxy of giant stars as the missiles detonated around the fleet, filling the space around and between the Supervision vessels with their devastating energy. Bulkheads turned to liquid and then vapor, machines and fighters were scattered into dust, and dozens of reflex furnaces lost control of reduced their respective vessels to ashes. Even before the light of the nuclear fireballs faded away, most of their ships were already scattering in all directions in what could only be described as total pandemonium.  
  
Seeing this, Lieutenant Harper's entire squadron howled and yelped like cowboys at a victory party. "Hell yeah!" Harper shouted out. "Direct hits! Missiles had their maximum effect!" After a brief pause he added, "What a sight to behold!"  
  
Hikaru had no time to revel in the success of their first attack. Only a third of the enemy formation, almost 100 warships total, had been disabled or destroyed in the attack and the others were now deploying their fighters to counter them. "Okay folks we're not done here. Enemy counter attack approaching, so form up by squads and keep each other covered." He looked at his monitors again and licked his lips. Many of the enemy forces were standard fighter pods, but there were a number of powered armors and Glaug battle pods among the enemy and he knew from experience that they would be the most trouble. "Here they come. All units deploy forward formation and engage!"  
  
All of the fighters switched to Gerwalk mode and cut their relative velocities down to a more manageable speed. Hikaru treated himself to the first catch of the day by firing three missiles at a charging Glaug. Amazingly, the pod didn't even bother to avoid his fire but flew headlong into it as it fired on him. Harper dropped two powered armors one after another in this manner, and after looking around him for a moment he noticed that all of the enemy craft were moving much the same way. "Hey boss, these guys are sluggish as hell!"  
  
Hikaru dropped another Glaug with his gunpod and nodded. "You're right. They're reacting in almost slow motion…" Hikaru was blinded by a sudden burst of beam fire from directly in front and banked sharply to his left as two Glaugs charged after him. They blasted away with his beam guns in an intense barrage that seemed almost impossible to dodge until two Valkyries came up behind them and destroyed both pods with the beam cannons on their FAST packs. "They may be slow, but they're a HELL of a lot more aggressive than the Zentradi!"  
  
The Megaroad fleet closed into firing range of the Supervision fleet only a few minutes after the missiles impacted and all 70 ships targeted the command vessels in the center of the formation and opened fire. A number of smaller enemy ships caught on to them in time to screen their command ship from the smaller batteries of the fleet, but Captain Broli did not need a clear line of fire to use his main weapon. "Range to target?"  
  
"20 thousand kilometers." Reported Ensign Ryder. "There are three enemy ships directly in the firing path."  
  
"That makes no difference. Set your target to the command vessel and prepare to fire."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
Broli leaned against the front window of the bridge, nerves so frayed he could almost feel his skin slithering from his body. There were flashes of battle all around his ship, together with the occasional lurch in the deck when an explosion rocked the hull, which served only to remind him of the thousands of ways for an officer to die on a space ship. He had spent almost his entire life fighting the Supervision Army from the cockpit of a Regult battle pod, and now on the bridge of a battleship he felt completely out of his league. Even so, he did his best not to show his uncertainty to the crew.  
  
There was a low hum from the forward hull as the capacitors started gathering energy for the blast, and then Lieutenant Mike Gallow called out from his station. "Message from Captain Ichijo. She's saying we're clear to fire."  
  
"Excellent! All fighters clear!" Broli waited for a moment for the Valkyrie units to clear the firing path, and then smiled as the Supervision battle craft started charging his ship. "That's it boys, come right in… FIRE!"  
  
Ensign Ryder threw the switch, and the main cannon let loose a devastating wave of energy that incinerated the attacking craft and tore through all three Supervision picket ships as if they were made of tin foil. After an instant the blast hit its main target, smashing their command ship into atoms and plunging their fleet even further into chaos and confusion. The resulting fireball that formed in the midst of them sent many of their vessels tumbling out of control, and with the loss of their command ship many of them began re-fold operations to another location to regroup. Those few who lingered for a bit too long suddenly found themselves surrounded on both sides by enemies, and taking fire from too many directions at once to mount any effective counter action. And then Captain Gouraz and General Karga fired off a blast from the main cannons of their battleships, sending yet another 30 ships on a one way ticket to oblivion. It was then that the defenders of Gallaron made a mad charge against the enemy fleet, and for the surviving aggressors that was the last straw.  
  
The remaining ships now re-folded out of the system before the Zentradi could close their grip around them, leaving the Gallaron fleet face to face with a new force in their system. They all recognized General Karga's fleet near the flanks of the formation, but the other 20 ships were from the Bodolza Main Fleet and the Megaroad itself made them uneasy and mystified them at the same time. Korazan almost sensed the uneasy feeling among the Zentradi fleet, but he had served with Karga long enough that the man could tell what he was about to suggest even before he said it. "Defenders of Gallaron, I bring you good news. During what was to be my last patrol as a soldier, I have discovered a salvation for our people. These micronians possess the secrets of proto-culture, and unlike our enemies in the Supervision Army, they are more than willing to share that knowledge with us, as you have no doubt guessed by the improved condition of my fleet. All they ask in return is our protection, and a place to live in peace and safety. I ask you now, only to weigh your options in this matter. Help our new micronian allies, just as they have already helped us, or face the Supervision Army alone once again."  
  
In hindsight, General Karga's speech was redundant. The Zentradi commanders were already well beyond desperate for any kind of relief, micronian or otherwise. One could argue that they might even have surrendered a UN Spacey dictatorship if they thought it would help their chances, but the arrangement they ended up with was favorable under almost any circumstances. And so, as the 300 remaining ships of the Gallaron fleet moved to surround the Megaroad, as part of its ever growing fleet of escorts, most of them seeing fit to regard the newcomers as friends of the Zentradi Army. Together, the 370 ships of what was now the Gallaron defense fleet changed orbits as one body and closed in around their twin factory satellites near the lowest lagrange point.  
  
March 30 would one day be commemorated as a national holiday. For the Zentradi it was the day the Micronians delivered them from annihilation by their ancient enemy. For the Humans, it was the day the Megaroad finally found a planet they could call home. For the rest of the people of the Arturo sector, indeed for the rest of the Galaxy decades later, it would see the birth of the Legend of Megaroad.  
  
________________________________________________________________  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Just to answer a question I've been getting from a few people, this fanfic does not have nearly as much to do with the SDF-2 Megaroad's disappearance as it does with the colony ship itself. As you've no doubt guessed from this chapter, this is going to my shot at a large scale epic so be prepared for some pretty nasty extremes.  
  
By the way, I feel it necessary at this point to ask that anyone who is still following this fic PLEASE write a review or send me an E-mail. I honestly can't say if this work of Macross otaku-ism is any good without an impartial opinion.  
  
And one more thing, the opening of this chapter is in fact a slight teaser. Keep your eyes open over this summer for a short fanfic featuring the great Claudia LaSalle! (That's Claudia Grant for all my Robotech peeps ^_^) She's a brick house! She's mighty mighty!  
  
There's alot more to come y'all, so stay tuned! 


	11. Chapter 10: Ideas

Chapter 10: Ideas  
  
--April 1, 2016--  
  
--04:20--  
  
Megaroad-01 had become the center of attention for the Zentradi. At least a hundred of their soldiers and archivists were either entering or leaving the ship at any given time, and always under escort by a team of UN Spacey officers with notebooks and clipboards. All of them who came on or left the ship did so for one purpose: restore the factory satellite. The first thing they worked on was the smaller production lines, which were being modified to manufacture VF-4 Lighting-III's on the Zentradi assembly line, while an alternate team went to work restoring the proto-culture cloning chambers that would be used to produce pilots for the new mecha once they left the assembly line.  
  
In the mean time, two new missions were deployed from low the factory satellite. The first was a small armada of shuttles bound for the largest ancient city on the planet, and the second was a group of 3 destroyers and 9 pickets, stuffed with electronic equipment and deployed on a short fold route to system HJ-95B. In order to overcome the interference from the gravity anomalies in the Arturo sector, the group would set up a communications beacon at every waypoint that would relay the hyperspace signal from system to system until it was finally clear of any interference and could be transmitted directly to Earth. Misa was certain the brass of the UN spacey would not be pleased about her going ahead without their consent, but she recognized that any complaints they could have would be all too easy to ignore. This was simple protocol; "After a break in communications, inform your base of operations what you have already done in case they want to help you."  
  
On the first morning after the Megaroad arrived at Gallaron, Captain Misa stood on the bridge of the Megaroad, watching the ships she'd selected maneuver their way out of the huge docking port of the factory satellite and into open space. She wished each of the captains the best of luck and thanked them for their cooperation, and the ships powered up their fold engines for the first leg of the mission. Under the optimistic gaze of the Megaroad crew, the doomed expedition folded out of the Gallaron system on it's mission, heading for it's ultimate destination of Star System HJ-95B.  
  
--20:18--  
  
She was furious at her best friend Misa Ichijo for a thousand reasons at once; for stealing Hikaru away from her, for getting married and living her dream, for finding the happiness she'd always desired, for not warning her about Miko's bottomless energy supply the first time she baby-sat for the girl. And now she had one more reason: for getting her singing again. This was the reason that overwhelmed all the others these days, since Minmei had come to view her own music as a dangerous narcotic that degraded the very fabric of her soul. She knew now that by becoming a pop star, she had inadvertently fed herself to the public bit by bit until there was nothing left for herself... or was it Kaifun who had whored her to the mass media to satisfy his own needs? In any case, she had since vowed to become a real person, to start a new life where no one cared about her except the people she cared about herself, and above all to never set foot on stage again. When Misa convinced her... rather tricked her... into singing again at that nightclub for General Karga, Minmei fell off the wagon and crashed back to reality like a grand piano, and in no time flat she was back on stage where deep down she knew she truly belonged.  
  
Even so, the Minmei was no fool. For her to come out with a full blown album for the first time in almost 5 years would be a disaster for her relationship with Richard, and it would end up with almost the same result as her last boom when her popularity grew to almost nauseating proportions. Instead of exploding back to the silver screen or throwing a huge concert like a glamorous diva back from vacation, she quietly took a seat at the officer's club every other night and listened to Corina's band play two of their opening songs, at which point she would slink backstage, change into a moderately fancy party dress and sing any four songs the band wanted to play. Very rarely did she ever sing one of her own songs, which was far more satisfying than she would have suspected. Normally, she sang old classic songs from the 20th century, or one of the splendid lyrical concoctions written (and butchered in performance) by Lieutenant Sara Douglass. No matter what the case may be, the result was always the same: the glowing satisfaction that she had missed so much, flowing over her like a warm blanket.  
  
On this particular Saturday, she returned home from the Officer's Club after "swing night", an occasion arranged for the benefit of the visiting Zentradi commanders of the Gallaron fleet, which for some reason was a great deal more fun that she thought it would be. A number of the officers actually attended the occasion in what appeared to be flapper dresses and tap shoes, and even Corina appeared on stage with an archaic looking garment strait out of a speakeasy. One would think that the scores of newly micronized Zentradi would be out of place in an atmosphere like this, but oddly enough they fit right in. They all knew a party when they saw one, and they were so exhausted from years of endless battle they no longer cared about the fabled consequences of exposure to females. It was a wild night that she would remember as some of the most fun she'd ever had in any club, but even so she was very glad to be back home with Richard where the floor didn't move to the beat of Corina's guitar.  
  
"I'm home Rich!" Minmei chimed as she joyously skipped into their apartment and kissed him hello. "How was your day?"  
  
Richard was reclined in an armchair half asleep when she kissed him, but at the realization of her presence the man almost exploded with his excitement. "It was great! I got that new job I told you about!"  
  
Minmei laughed with joy. "Carson Advertising?! That's wonderful! I'm so proud of you Richard!"  
  
Richard chuckled a bit. "What? You didn't think I could do it?"  
  
Minmei sat on his lap and he held her in place there. "Not with your pauper's luck! In the three weeks I've been living here, you have NEVER won a bet with me!"  
  
Richard shrugged defensively. "Okay, so I make bad bets! That doesn't mean I'm unlucky!"  
  
"Are you kidding me? Four days ago you bet me 50 bucks that the bus driver was really a man!"  
  
"Minmei, I SWEAR she looked like a guy! How was I to know?!"  
  
Minmei tugged at his ear teasingly. "Anyway, now that you've scored this fantastic new job and we are fabulously wealthy and powerful, what should we do to celebrate?"  
  
"I would go out, but thanks to our beloved captain the streets are now crawling with Zentradi and I worry for your safety."  
  
Minmei ignored the remark and followed the subject at hand. She considered ways to celebrate their sudden good fortune with Richard landing that high paying job at last, when she seemed to notice suddenly that she was sitting just a bit higher on his lap than she probably should have. Not to give Richard any ideas, she nonchalantly stood up and thought of an idea. "I know! I'll cook for you!"  
  
"You'll what?" Richard tried to picture Minmei working over a stove with a little chef's hat, but it just didn't seem natural. "You?! YOU'RE gonna cook?!"  
  
"Yup." Minmei moved off into the kitchen space to gather ingredients.  
  
"A-Are you sure?"  
  
"Did I forget to tell you I work at a Chinese restaurant or were just not paying attention?" He mentally kicked himself for missing that and followed her into the kitchen, but she stopped him with a glance. "This is MY treat Richard, don't ruin this for me."  
  
--21:10--  
  
In the officer's club, at a table next to the stage that had only a few hours ago hosted Minmei and Corina's band, a nest of almost 50 officers had Sara Douglass boxed into a corner, unable to escape the harsh injustice they knew she had been selected for. She was certain that if she didn't cooperate there would be trouble, but she knew that if her freinds didn't kill her, Misa almost certainly would, so she decided to choose what she was sure would be a less painful demise. "Look you guys, shouldn't we have someone with a higher rank talk to her about this?"  
  
Corina shook her head. "You're perfect for this. You're silly and you're ignorant but you always speak your mind and the Captain knows that."  
  
Lieutenant Harper nodded in agreement with the others. "And besides, your rank is just low enough that maybe she'll let you off light if you can't persuade her. And you've got less to loose than all of us."  
  
"I don't want to!"  
  
"You don't have a choice. We're gonna make you do it anyway, so you might as well suck it up and get to it!" Sara was close to tears. She could just imagine Misa transforming into a big green monster and screwing her head into the deck like a human lightbulb. "C'mon! This isn't fair! You KNOW how the captain feels about this kind of thing, she'll break me in half just for thinking about it!"  
  
"Sara you HAVE to!"  
  
"NO!" She screeched, nearing hysteria. "Get somebody else, cause I'm not gonna do it!"  
  
Hikaru put his hands on her shoulders and tried to calm her down. "Sara, we don't need you to totally convince her, just try and get her mind open to knew possibilities…"  
  
"Why don't YOU do it?! You're her damn husband for crying out loud!"  
  
Hikaru tried desperately to think of an excuse. He didn't want to have to tell her that the only reason they had picked her for this mission was because they considered her expendable. "Well…well I have other things to consider..."  
  
Sara almost seemed to read his mind. "Oh I get it! Take one for the team, right Colonel?"  
  
"Sara, we need you to do this! Just break the ice a bit so the rest of us can sort of... lead up to it or something."  
  
"Do it yourself!" she shouted defiantly, folding her arms in resolution. All at once, the other officers started closing in around her, staring her down. Sara could feel them drawing closer every second to the point where some of them were actually breathing down her neck. "Stop that!" She said. They closed in a bit more and then remained there, glaring at her without emotion. She struggled to maintain control, but her palms were sweating and her head started to throb. "You can stand there looking at me all night if you want, but I'm not doing it!" Still they waited, staring her down with blank expressions as they watched her growing increasingly uncomfortable. Lieutenant Douglass, besides being fiercely claustrophobic, had carried a very deep seeded fear of crowds since she was a very small child, and this psychological torture was well known as her one true weakness. After only 4 minutes, which was a new record for her, she gave in to their insidious plot. "Okay okay! I'll do it, just get away from me PLEASE!" They all backed off, and Sara burst up from the table and ran out of the club for the precieved safety of the outdoors. "I hate you guys!"  
  
--21:55--  
  
In the Powel apartment, Minmei was only just setting food on the table for Richard, who seemed someone apprehensive about eating her cooking. "Minmei, I love you very much but I really don't know if..."  
  
"Shut up and eat it." She said crossly. "You need to open your mind some times."  
  
"But..."  
  
"No, don't talk. EAT!"  
  
Richard swallowed and looked over the spread of food on the table to pick what he would try first. At random, he started with sweat-and-sour chicken and a small bowl of shrimp chaomein. "Here goes nothing..." He took a bite of the chicken, then another, and then tasting the shrimp chaomein, looked up at Minmei in surprise. "It's GOOD!"  
  
"I told you so. Were you expecting dog food?"  
  
Richard knew better than to answer the question honestly, but even if he did wish to do so he was far too busy eating. Minmei smiled at him and sat down across from him at the table and joined in. For a change, she took her time, eating in what could be construed as a generally civilized manner. She began to realize, once again, how much someone else valued the things she took for granted, and how little the things she created even mattered to her unless someone else seemed to approve.  
  
Richard, on the other hand, appreciated the more mundane irony of the situation. Minmei routinely pigged out on his cooking, now he was finding himself doing much the same. Despite his best efforts to make conversation, despite all the things he thought to say about her cooking and all the things he wanted to tell her, the only thing that came to mind was "Good rice."  
  
"Thanks." The night went on with very little conversation exchanged. After a while, she noticed he seemed to be slowing down, which was understandable considering how he had managed to put away almost two bowls of noodles and three bowls of chicken and rice in under 30 minutes. She decided to slow him down for good before he injured himself. "You read the news lately?"  
  
Richard stopped and thought about it. He started to speak, then swallowed all the food in his cheeks and went on. "That research team went down to the ancient city this morning. They should be doing a report on it tonight."  
  
"Really? What channel?"  
  
"Lemme check..." Richard leaned over from the table and retrieved a newspaper from the window ledge. He opened it up to look for the channel listings, but Minmei noticed something on the back page by the classified adds. "Actually, I think it's on right now but it doesn't say what channel..."  
  
"Let me see." Minmei snatched the paper from his hands and discretely folded over part of the page to the classifieds. There, standing out on the paper in a black and white frame that almost seemed to be aimed right at her, was an add from the Galaxy Boulevard Opera Theatre. She had never heard of the production, but the name she knew the names "Gilbert and Sullivan" from her childhood, when she sang the Modern Major General in the 7th grade school play.  
  
"What's it say?" Richard asked after a minute.  
  
"You're right, it doesn't say what channel. Doesn't matter though, we'll just get the paper tomorrow morning on the way to work."  
  
Richard went back to eating when something crossed his mind. "Which reminds me, now that I've got this management job, you don't have to work at King Lao's anymore."  
  
Minmei laughed out loud. "HAVE to work?! I never HAVE to work at King Lao's to begin with!"  
  
Richard looked confused. "Just how much money have you stashed up anyway?"  
  
Minmei stopped laughing as she realized she was about to give herself away. "Well... yeah I have some saved up but if I didn't love working there that much there are a million different things I could do instead."  
  
"That's what I'm talking about. You don't have to do anything now!"  
  
Minmei looked at the add again. If she quit her job now, it would be next to impossible to get out without him knowing about it. "You're being silly Richard. I'm no housewife. Hell, I'm not even your wife!"  
  
Richard blushed. "Well... m-maybe you should be..." he said lamely.  
  
Minmei laughed again, and Richard suddenly looked very embarrassed. She realized suddenly that he had meant it in a serious way, and that she had literally laughed in his face. In the blink of an eye, she now felt as embarrassed as he looked. "Maybe if we got married I'd think about it, but for now I'll keep my job. Either way, I'm worried about the restaurant."  
  
"What are you worried about?"  
  
"Fei Chan is having money problems. He might have to cut my pay. I mean, I still pay half the rent here don't I?"  
  
Richard nodded. "That's true. Anyway, I can cover you if you're a bit light..."  
  
"I like to be independent. It has nothing to do with you, it's just the way I am."  
  
"I understand." Minmei noticed at this point that he was done eating, her first clue to this fact being that he had apparently eaten all of the food. In some kind of over-fed stupor the two of them wandered off to the couch and planted themselves on what had become "their cushion" on the far left side. They curled up together, each elated at the other's company, while Richard channel surfed to find the news reports about the city. He stopped on one of the premium channels where a movie was showing, and watched ot for a few minutes to identify it. "Isn't this Fokker's Fate? I heard this was a really good movie but I never got to see it. How bout you?"  
  
Her reaction was delayed by several seconds, but when she suddenly remembered that she had done a cameo in the movie her soul filled with dread. "I don't want to see a war movie now." She said, trying her best to keep the desperation out of her voice.  
  
Richard looked at his watch and yawned. "It's almost over anyway. Let's just watch the end."  
  
The end of the movie was exactly the part she did not want to see. The third to last scene depicted Roy Fokker walking onto the set of Small White Dragon during production and getting into a very flamboyant and high- flying fist fight with Kaifun, which he wins in heroic style and then drives Minmei over to see her boyfriend, played by some kid who looked absolutely nothing like Hikaru Ichijo. The fact that the scene was a horrendous inflation of reality didn't matter to her, it was the simple image of her appearing on screen that filled her with dread as the movie dragged on. She watched the body-builder/actor who played Roy Fokker climb into a jeep running an errand for Hikaru and she knew she had about 2 minutes before her brief appearance in the film. She tried to think of some way to either distract him or change the channel, but she drew a blank every time she tried. As the moment came very closer, only one thing came to mind, and though it seemed like a very bad idea she could not think of anything better. Calling up years of acting school and all of her feelings for Richard, she leaned over and kissed him as if the world were coming to an end.  
  
Surprised, Richard pulled away and looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. "Hi there!" He said. Out of the corner of her eye, Minmei saw Roy getting out of the jeep and walking across the set of the movie where the trailers were parked. She kissed him again, this time taking the opportunity to grab his hands and pull his arms around her. At the last instant before Roy stepped around the corner to talk to her, Minmei managed to "accidentally" change the channel, and Richard chuckled. "Oh I get it. You just don't wanna see the movie, is that it?"  
  
"No, I..." Richard grabbed the remote and changed back, and Minmei was determined to keep him distracted. Taking a deep breath, she leaned forward slightly and started to unbutton her shirt. "Let's do something different." She said slowly.  
  
Richard guessed the hidden meaning of her words and turned off the TV, not noticing the image of a slightly younger Lynn Minmei speaking to a very large actor in a major motion picture. She was relieved that he hadn't seen her on screen, but now she was faced with a bigger problem. Her fingers seemed to be possessed, and for some unknown reason she completely removed her shirt and launched into Richard's arms. Whatever gremlin had take control of her hands now went to work on removing Richard's clothes, and he was making no effort whatsoever to stop her. In the confines of her own brain, she was panicking, but she could not stop herself. Even as she unbuckled his belt, she found herself wishing on a million stars she could snap out of whatever trance she had fallen into and put a stop to this before they went too far. A million stars smiled on her that night, but she did not get her wish.  
  
After the longest two minutes of her life, Minmei had discarded all of her clothes in a small pile next to the couch. Richard followed her lead, and then carried her down the hall into their bedroom. "You sure you want this?" He said gently.  
  
Minmei's first instinct was to scream and run. She wanted to shout "NO!" as loud as she could and run to the opposite end of the ship where no one could find her. But for some reason, she simply nodded slightly and kissed him again. "I'm all yours."  
  
--22:30--  
  
Misa was half asleep on the bridge, staring at the featureless bulkhead of a Zentradi factory satellite. Much of the crew was on leave to be with their families, but she was expecting Corina to report in at any minute. She was watching the news broadcast from the surface with a certain detachment, knowing better than most that the only real information of value would be place on her desk in 3 days with the preliminary report. The only thing that really interested her so far was the layout of the city, deliberate and organized, yet random and scattered at the same time. In that way, it was very much like the Megaroad, a medium sized city with the predictable patterns of a big city and the neighborly, personal structure of a small town.  
  
At 11:30 that night, the door slid open and Sara Douglass walked quietly onto the bridge. "Evening Captain."  
  
"Evening Sara, but aren't you about 6 hours early for your watch?"  
  
"Yes. As if I have anything better to do." Sara walked up to her station, reading the evening edition of the daily newspaper.  
  
Misa nodded. Sara had broken up with yet another boyfriend only two days earlier, and now she was spending almost all of her spare time either on duty or performing at the club. Misa stood up to go home, leaving the bridge in Sara's less than capable hands. "I guess not. But I think I should be getting back to my home before my daughter kills my husband..."  
  
"Read this." Sara shoved the newspaper into Misa's hands as she stood, and Misa looked at the article on the page Sara had been reading.  
  
"Public opinion polls for March, 2016..."  
  
"Read the bottom." Sara said.  
  
Misa looked to the bottom of the article where a new section had been added to the polls. Public Opinion Polls, or POPs as they were known, was some bizarre thing the newspapers had thought up two years earlier as a way of letting politicians in on the most recent trends of public opinion on the ship, but the new section was quite a mystery and very unwelcome. "The Future of Megaroad-01..." She read the headline, "... in previous editions Megaroad Post has asked around about the future directions this ship may be headed, particularly in hypothetical situations and contexts as..." Misa skipped to the end of the article. "...in summary, we found that out of the people interviewed, almost 1 in 8 seemed to favor some form of autonomous government or independent state after the ship eventually lands. Two weeks ago, with the encounter of General Karga's fleet and his willingness to cooperate with us, that number has jumped to 1 in 5 people. Now, after enlisting the support of the Gallaron fleet and two factory satellites, interviewers from the Megaroad Post have found that on average more than 88% of citizens of Meg..." Misa didn't even read the rest of the article, but looked up at Sara in disbelief.  
  
"I know." Sara said, responding to words that did not need to be spoken. "It's wild isn't it? They're really serious about this."  
  
"They're insane!" Misa gasped, her voice laden with anxiety and the horror of her suddenly perilous position. "They can't be serious! It's gotta be some kind of yellow journalism..."  
  
"Captain, a week ago a pair of drunken marines started up this huge discussion in the officers club about what it would be like if the Megaroad formed it's own nation. Five nights ago, they talked about it sober, and for the last four nights the conversation has involved at least 40 different people, all of them senor officers."  
  
Misa sat down heavily in her chair. "Why the hell haven't I been told about this?! This is... I can't believe this kind of bullshit is going on MY ship!"  
  
"That's what they figured you'd say. That's why I came here."  
  
Misa looked up at Sara as if she had suddenly transformed into some kind of mutant creature. "Oh no you don't...!"  
  
"Captain, just think about it for one minute, will you? What good is the UN Spacey except to get in the way? You said it yourself that any time you ask them anything, it takes weeks to get a reply and the answer is always no! What's the point in asking at all?"  
  
Misa growled and stood up from her chair. "You have the con, Sara!" She hissed as she turned to storm off the bridge.  
  
Sara followed her to the door and put her hand on her shoulder. "Captain please..."  
  
Misa whirled around and pushed Sara against the wall, enraged by the sudden onset of a situation that was rapidly spiraling out of control. "If I hear any more of this independence bullshit on my bridge, I'll have you all court-martialed! UNDERSTAND?!"  
  
Sara gulped and nodded meekly, and Misa turned and stormed off the bridge.  
  
--April 2, 2016--  
  
--07:25--  
  
Minmei awoke the following morning same way she did every morning, to the exact same alarm clock, in the exact same bed next to the exact same Richard. She clicked off the alarm and climbed out of bed to get dressed for work, but the instant she drew back the covers she became confused. "Richard... Richard where are my clothes?"  
  
Richard awoke to the sound of her voice and started to sit up drowsily. "Hmmm?"  
  
"Where's my..." Minmei eyed her nightgown folded across a chair where she had left it the previous morning, and noticed the rest of her clothes strewn about the bedroom in a trail leading out the door. And then she remembered. "Oh no! We... we just..."  
  
"Are you okay?" Richard sat up and kissed the back of her neck. "What's the matter?"  
  
"We shouldn't have done this. It's... this is all wrong! What am I doing here?!"  
  
Richard grabbed her and turned her to face him. "You know exactly what you're doing here. I love you, and we're together in this."  
  
Minmei started to speak, but the words wouldn't come out. For some reason, whenever she looked at his face she could not seem to remember anything else. For the first time since Hikaru left her for Misa, she felt the wonder of being lost and found at the same time. "You're right Richard." She smiled at him. "It's just... well this was my first time. With anyone."  
  
"Really?" He seemed to be thinking of something, but did not continue the subject. "C'mon Minmei. We'll be late for work."  
  
"Oh that's right!" Both of them rolled out of bed in opposite directions and started their normal morning procedures. But this time it was different; they did everything at the same time. They each brushed their teeth, showered, got dressed and combed their hair and ate breakfast at the same time, before kissing each other goodbye and going off to work. For Richard, it seemed just like any other day, but for Minmei, it was like a dress rehearsal for a life with her new husband. On this day, she made up her mind once and for all that she would be his wife. 


	12. Chapter 11: Over the Horizon

Chapter 11: Over the Horizon  
  
--April 17--  
  
--22:32--  
  
Almost as soon as the Megaroad docked at the factory satellite and deployed its many engineering firms for their latest adventures, the Phoenix had repaired its battle damage and rearmed its fighters for yet another mission. Their new objective was not a planet or a ship; it was a woman named Shikari, commander of the Zentradi's 82nd attack fleet. Shikari's fleet was the largest of the two greater factions that had harassed Gallaron's patrols for their spare parts, with 112 vessels to her name and a small army of battle hardened women at her disposal. Though the Gallaron fleet outnumbered her forces three to one in both ships and soldiers, they were terrified of her all the same.  
  
There were rumors about her that spanned over 20 star systems and three different languages. Some of them said that Shikari was a bloodthirsty maniac who butchered fallen warriors just for the pleasure of hearing them scream. A more common rumor was that the women of the Shikari fleet were cannibals, eating their wounded or dead soldiers in some kind of deranged ritual every three to five days. Still others had cited "reliable" reports from officers on scout ships that Shikari herself was over two kilometers tall, and could smash entire battleships with a wave of her hand. The latest tales from the Gallaron sector had lost credibility with the arrival of the Megaroad, stating that Shikari actually fed on the blood of Zentradi men, and was using the bones of Gorg Bodolza and Britai Kidranik as jewelry. Though the micronian visitors managed to dispel these rumors by stating that Bodolza was vaporized by the Macross's barrier overload and Britai was alive and well, it still did not diminish the absolute terror that accompanied the very mention of her name.  
  
Picking ships of the fleet from the Megaroad's original escorts had been no help, all of them equally feared the women of Shikari. Broli himself had twice threatened to resign his commission instead of taking the Phoenix out to search for her, but Misa convinced him that he would end up going anyway, regardless of whether or not he was a commissioned officer. And so ended the argument, the Phoenix was the flagship. Rounding up the other vessels was no easy task, and the list of volunteers was barely into the double digits. Misa found herself considering outlandish rewards for anyone brave enough to undertake the mission, but in the end she was able to scrape up just enough ships from the Gallaron fleet for a proper scout team. Once that was taken care of, the SDF-Phoenix and an entourage of 12 destroyers and 10 pickets took on fully loaded and repaired battle pods, a full compliment of reflex missiles, an arsenal of musical recordings and several million dollars worth of sound equipment. The mission was considered a diplomatic function, but was unofficially codenamed "Operation Amazon" by Broli, who felt the name helped ease the tension among his human subordinates. He had been very right about this. The Phoenix's mission was a long term one, so Misa did not expect any kind of report from Broli other than his Sunday morning "we're not dead" calls he would routinely send in. Everyone was optimistic for their success, hoping for the best but fearing the worst, having heard all the horrible rumors about what awaited them. Sara had even dedicated a song to the crew of the Phoenix and the band got Minmei to sing it for the senor officers on the night before their departure, and everyone returned to duty with an aura of confidence and hope that this mission would end well for the new colony.  
  
But there was no way for anyone in Gallaron to know of the tragedy that was taking place at the edge of the Arturo sector. The ships Misa had dispatched two weeks earlier defolded into HG-95B in low orbit of the third planet and began to set up the communication beacon to complete the network. Once it was operational, Misa would have a direct line of communication with Earth, and Gallaron would officially become a part of the UN Space Government. It is unfortunate in many ways that the Zentradi task force never did notice the three ARMD platforms and its flotilla of scout ships hiding in the ring sector of the planet.  
  
Admiral Bennet watched them for several hours, not sure exactly what was going on or what their purpose was. "What do you think Commander?" He asked his first officer. "Megaroad-01 passed through this system some time ago and reported it clear. Think maybe they've been attacked?"  
  
His Executive officer answered him a moment later. "Sir, the picket squadron has identified the enemy ships as Zentradi vessels from the Gallaron factory defenses, formerly under Bodolza."  
  
"Then they must be hostile. What are they doing here?"  
  
"At a guess sir, I'd say they're waiting to see if anyone comes looking for the colony ship."  
  
Bennet scratched his chin. "I'd say that's a reasonable guess." He looked at his watch and calculated how long it would take reinforcements to arrive from the nearest star systems if they managed to call for help. "Okay, bring us in closer and prepare to deploy reflex missiles."  
  
His first officer was stunned. "Captain, shouldn't we contact Earth for permission before..."  
  
"There's no time for that. Besides, I have security clearance to authorize the use of reflex missiles. Send two squadrons to either flank to make sure we get them all on the first pass."  
  
"Aye sir." The man said nervously.  
  
"Engines ahead two-thirds. Arm all missile tubes and prepare to fire on my orders."  
  
"Missiles armed sir. Two minutes to firing range."  
  
Far off in the distance, near the moon that had once held a Supervision Army base, Claudia LaSalle looked over the impressive handy work of the SDF-Phoenix. A huge chunk of the little planetoid had been blown into space by a tremendous energy release, the result of the detonation of a dozen or more reflex furnaces at once. "What the hell could have caused that? Surely no single weapon..."  
  
The radar officer looked over the data once again. "No ma'am. Several billion metric tons of rock and ice have been displaced. Whatever did that almost split the moon in half."  
  
Claudia leaned back against the glass pannel in front of the bridge and tried to imagine what could have caused so much destruction. "What kind of fire power are we looking at here?"  
  
"It would take a hundred ships with a full reflex missiles barrage, and all the missiles would have to go off simultaneously and several kilometers under ground."  
  
"Then an energy weapon of some sort..." Claudia wondered about this. Misa had mentioned an encounter with enemy forces near this moon, but she had left out so much detail almost any interpretation seemed plausible now. She imagined perhaps that the battleship had used it's cannon to hit some target buried deep underground, something with a very large energy output, but she could not imagine what or why. She didn't have long to think about it.  
  
"Captain, Bennet's fleet is moving again."  
  
Claudia ran over to the radar screen and checked the data. "He's going to attack those Zentradi ships."  
  
"Affirmative. He must figure they have something to do with the Megaroad's disappearance."  
  
"They still haven't contacted Earth. He just might be right." Claudia looked at the advancing fleet as they made formation. "He's going to use reflex weapons. That damn fool!"  
  
The First officer of the Maizuru checked over all the systems again. "Jamming systems fully operational on all frequencies. We're still un- detected."  
  
Claudia walked to the front of the bridge and took one last look at the moon. "They don't call it a Stealth Carrier for nothing." She folded her arms and stood up straighter. "Take us to parallel course with Admiral Bennet. I want to be notified the moment he folds again."  
  
"Aye Captain."  
  
--April 18, 2016--  
  
--22:30--  
  
"This is Gunsight Two calling Delta Control, Operation Amazon is now in standing by."  
  
Corina checked the radar screens and the transfer schedules to make sure everything was over and done with. As she watched the boards, the last scheduled shuttle left the Phoenix and headed back to the factory satellite with its passengers, and there were no more shuttles scheduled to land on any of the ships. "Gunsight Two, you're cleared to proceed as planned. Maintain radio silence as ordered."  
  
"Roger. Fold systems standing by." The energy level began rising in preparation for a hyperspace fold.  
  
When the moment finally came, all 23 ships glowed brilliantly in the energy of their fold systems, and then they were gone, propelled through hyperspace at impossible speeds. "Please come back to me Broli." Corina whispered under her breath.  
  
Sara walked over and patter her on the back. "He'll be back, don't worry. They always come back for the ones who put out."  
  
Corina just barely stopped herself from slapping the Lieutenant, but compressed her impulse down to a curt, "And you'd be the one to know, wouldn't you?"  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Sara said innocently. She went back to her station and got back to work. "By the way, for future reference, I am NOT taking any more bullets for you guys."  
  
Corina tried not to looh her in the eye. "What did she say?"  
  
"Court-martial."  
  
"Oh. I'm sorry..."  
  
Sara shook her head. "She just gave me a warning, I'm still here."  
  
Corina was relieved, though she wasn't sure why. It would be only too easy to envision life without a smart-aleck like Lieutenant Sara working at the consol next to her, but for some unknown reason she had become used young woman's tactless commentaries and had even grown fond of them. She reminded her of those annoying radio personalities you couldn't stand, and yet couldn't seem to turn off. "I think I'd miss you if you got canned."  
  
"Damn right you'd miss me. You'd have nobody to bitch out when you're in a bad mood."  
  
Corina chuckled. "That's true..." She glanced over to see Sara retrieve something from the brest pocket of her uniform and turn it over in her fingers. "What's that?"  
  
"Lieutenant Harper made it. He thinks it would make a pretty good flag if we started out own nation, so he and his friend at the tailor shop stayed up the other night and came up with this." Sara reached over and handed the woven fabric to Corina.  
  
The first thing she noticed was that it very much resembled the flag of the United States before it collapsed in the Unification Wars. It had 16 stripes, 8 white and 8 yellow, and a four point star in the left hand corner on top of a silver field. "Harper made this?" Corina said. "It's not bad..."  
  
"I know. He picked the colors based on Zentradi... uhhhh..."  
  
"The way of the warrior..." Corina finished, remembering hoe Broli had explained the meaning of the word. "The Zentradi call it Gadrasraskas. You might say it's the closest thing the Zentradi have to a culture. The yellow represents war, the white is glory and victory, silver relates to coordination, but I don't understand the star..."  
  
"Harper mentioned a Zentradi proverb. A courageous warrior is a frightened warrior who attains victory."  
  
Corina nodded. "Hence the black and the white in the star. Fear and victory..." She looked at it again and took in the strange mix of colors. Any other day, she would have tossed it in the trash as a candy wrapper or a tasteless decoration, but knowing what it represented seemed to instill some deeper meaning in it. She pressed the patch against her shoulder, covering the UN symbol on her uniform and looked at Sara. "How does that look?"  
  
"Looks great, but we should probably make a military banner for the soldiers." The other bridge officers looked at it and nodded in appreciation.  
  
Corina took the patch in her fingers again. "Lieutenant Harper did a pretty good job. I never realized he was an American..." The rear door opened as Misa entered the bridge. Corina quickly stuffed the patch into her pocket and tried her best to look busy. "Captain, the Phoenix just departed on its mission." She reported plainly.  
  
"Damn, I was hoping to talk to Broli before he left. Oh well, anything new from the surface?"  
  
"Nothing since the last update sir. Just trees and ancient cities."  
  
Misa sat down in the chair and tried to relax. "I could get used to this. Docked to the factory satellite might about the safest place in the galaxy right now."  
  
Corina turned around to face her. "Captain, what'll happen if Shikari doesn't want to cooperate with us?"  
  
"Nothing special. It just means it'll take longer to build up our defense fleet, and we can..." Misa stopped and stared at Corina's uniform. "What's that?"  
  
"What's what sir?"  
  
"What's that in your pocket?"  
  
Corina looked down to see just a bit of the patch peaking out of the fold in her brest pocket. "It's nothing sir..." She said, tucking it under the fabric.  
  
"Let me see that."  
  
"Captain, it's ummm... private."  
  
"What kind of private?"  
  
Corina tried to think of something believable to dampen the Captain's curiosity, but nothing came to mind. Sara, on the other hand, made perfect use of her apparent lack of self control. "It's a condom sir." She said flatly. "I loaned it to Commander Matheson when I began my watch this evening."  
  
Misa stared at Sara, then back at Corina, who's face was now dark red, and then back at Sara. "Did you now? That's...ummm... considerate of you Sara." Misa happily dropped the subject and went on about normal ship's business. Corina sighed with relief and tucked the patch even deeper into her pocket.  
  
--23:30--  
  
It was the end of their night out. For the 6th time since she'd known him, Richard had cooked for her again, and together they dined like starving wolves. A pair of rib eye steaks that had sizzled on the table grill only an hour before were now resting comfortably inside their stomachs, and Minmei and Richard were now at the part of the night where they sat motionless and stared into each other eyes in silence. It was bliss whenever they were together, and by now neither of them could imagine life without the other.  
  
Tonight had been different though. Both of them had consumed quite a bit of alcohol in various forms, though neither of them was anywhere near what might be considered intoxicated. But it reduced their collective inhibitions just enough to change the course of the evening, and soon the rest of their lives. Instead of going strait to sleep after dinner, Minmei and Richard lay side by side in bed watching the TV in their bedroom, staring with open eyes at the news reports of the new wonders found in the proto-culture city. For some reason, neither of them were sleepy, so Richard decided to try and make conversation. "How long has it been since we first met?" He said.  
  
"Almost four months. It's weird isn't it? It seems like four years."  
  
"Yeah. It almost seems like ages ago when I first asked you out in that bar. Did you know that I'd been watching you for months even before then?"  
  
"Really? Why did you wait so long to ask me out? Were you stalking me or something?"  
  
Richard laughed. "I was just trying to work up the courage to talk to you. You're the most beautiful thing I've ever laid eyes on. I was petrified just at the thought that you might have said no."  
  
"Then it's a good thing I said yes. If I hadn't, I'd still be alone, and you'd still be lingering around that bar building up the nerve to come over and talk to me."  
  
For a few more minutes, they lay in silence again. Richard found himself struggling to find the courage to approach Minmei on a new level, but every time he thought he was ready to pop "the question" he felt his throat close up and his nerve vanished. At length, he decided to try and lead up to it slowly, so that he would still be able to back out if she didn't seem to be favoring the idea. "Minmei, where do you think we should go from here? I mean, we've been together for a while and I think I know you better than I've known any..."  
  
Minmei didn't need to hear more, she already knew where he was going with this. Without prior warning, she leaned over to him and kissed him passionately for almost a minute. "Richard," She said at last. "Let's get married. Right away. Just get the dress and the tux and go for it."  
  
Richard didn't even give it a second thought. He reached into the drawer next to the bed and retrieved the little black box he had been hiding there for just such an occasion. "Then I'll marry you. We'll get everything we need and get hitched next Friday..."  
  
"Monday, Richard! I can't wait that long!"  
  
"Monday then." He opened the box and slipped the ring over her finger. "Now that we've got that out of the way, what should we do now?"  
  
Needing no further encouragement, Minmei climbed on top of him and started to remove her night gown. "I love you, my husband." She said looking at the ring on her finger again. It felt right, natural. It didn't even seem awkward.  
  
"I love you, my beautiful bride." Richard said. They did not speak again that night.  
  
--23:55--  
  
Bennet's fleet folded into L-1993A almost immediately after the battle with the Zentradi, shadowed at a distance by the UNS Maizuru. He used a finder beam from the picket ships to trace the hyperspace fold routes from the Megaroad, but he was finding that the ship had apparently made several unplanned stops along the way and that none of the stops were in anywhere near the general direction of their mission routes. "Looks to me like someone was chasing them." Bennet said, reading the sensor data for the third time. "There are energy waves from reflex missile explosions, ion trails, debris fields and such... if I didn't know better I'd say they had a running battle across several systems."  
  
"The spatial properties in this region are weird." Pointed out the radar officer. "Hyperspace communication is probably short range at best, and our sensors start to loose resolution after 2 light years."  
  
"Megaroad's arrays are alot more powerful than ours. I'm sure they can seen better, but that does explain why she never bothered to call for help."  
  
Bennet's first officer was starting to share his thinking. "They were chased into this region where their radio didn't function?"  
  
"Precisely. Prepare fold system for immediate transfer. We'll follow the trail to the end and see what we've got to work with."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
On the Maizuru, Claudia watched Bennet's fleet fold out of the system once again, and she sighed at his stubbornness. "Fold navigation, take us out on parallel course."  
  
"Aye Captain, fold system standing by..."  
  
The radar officer almost jumped out of her skin. "Sir! Multiple unidentified warships detected! I only spotted them now because of their energy buildup!"  
  
Claudia ran to the radar screen and saw a very large fleet of strange vessels drifting in space, powering up their reactors for a space fold. She counted at least a hundred ships with them, but she did not recognized any of them at all. "Give me data on those ships."  
  
Her radar officer called up a printout from the computer and read the data off the screen. "The largest is just over 800 meters in length, the smallest is about the size of an ARMD platform. I count one hundred and thirty seven vessels... now one-ten... ninety... sir they're folding!"  
  
Claudia could see it on the radar screen. "Heading?"  
  
She paused as she read over the data, then she began trembling. "They appear to be shadowing Admiral Bennet. Same course and speed."  
  
"And they can't see us when we're in stealth mode. I guess all we can really do is observe." Claudia watched on the monitors as the alien vessels started to vanish. Strange as they were, there was something very familiar about them. They were boxy, simple looking craft that could easily have been built by humans, but there was also an intimidating, almost predatory look to them even from this distance. "As soon as the last of them leave the system, reset fold coordinates and follow them."  
  
"Yes ma'am." Said her first officer.  
  
Claudia searched her memory for anything similar she had heard from either Exodor or any of the other Zentradi she had spent the last 3 years with in preparation for her tour of duty, but nothing came up. She had never seen anything even remotely like these vessels.  
  
Historians would later observe that if she had known then that they belonged to the Supervision Army she almost certainly would not have followed them.  
  
--08:10--  
  
She awoke next to Richard, once again, completely naked. This time it came as no surprise, last night was a night she could never forget. It was not only the most passionate experience of her life, it was the biggest decision she had ever made. Despite it, she was finding it was also the easiest.  
  
Richard slept next to her, smiling in his sleep as if her happiness has somehow become stuck to his face and could not be washed away with sleep. She had no regrets, no worries, only certainty of the joy and wondrous times that awaited just over the horizon for her and, hopefully, her children. At long last, after so many years of wishing and yearning, her dream was finally coming true, and the artist know as Lynn Minmei was getting married.  
  
__________________________________________________________________  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE:  
  
There is alot happening in this chapter, as if I have to tell you that. I would like to have enclosed a pciture of the Gallaron flag in with this chapter, but FF.net doesn't seem to like that idea. Sorry. If any of you are curious as to just what it looks like, just ask and I'll forward a copy, or wait a few days for my Megaroad pages to be completed, k? ^_^  
  
Alos, I should mention for the sake of visual refference that the Supervision Army's warships are based on the Meltrandi ships from Macross: DYRL. This may seem like a breach in continuity, but it's really not, and for two reasons.  
  
1.) DYRL is a movie compression BASED on Macross and does not follow the same story line. (Ommits Kamjin and Grand Cannon, and shuffles/omits other events for time's sake.)  
  
2.) As far as the Macross universe is concerned, DYRL is in fact a major motion picture produced in Macross City in and released in the February of 2031. One can assume the special effects wizzards who made the movie were probably Zentradi, and based the Meltrandi ships on Supervision Army designs that few non-Zentradi had ever seen before. 


	13. Chapter 12: Great Warlord Shikari

Chapter 12: Great Warlord Shikari  
  
--April 22, 2016--  
  
--08:35--  
  
By some miracle, Miko was still asleep at this time in the morning and Hikaru was on flight duty. That gave her some quiet time to think things over. In the sanctity of her staff office two decks down from the bridge, Misa was reading the POPs again, and this time with an even greater feeling of dread. The talk of independence was growing more radical every day. Some of it was purely idealistic and benign, but an increasing amount of the interviews seemed inflammatory in nature and intent. Misa's own statement to the press, that independence from the UN was not only a bad idea but a blatant act of treason, had met with severe criticism from some of the highest ranking officers on the ship, and even the civilians and some of the city council members were starting to lean towards the separatists. And besides that, her mailbox was now stuffed with letters trying to appeal to her to declare Megaroad a sovereign nation to the UN. Misa had done everything in her power to keep this from spreading, she had even started up the paperwork to court-martial Sara and Lieutenant Harper, but she knew that would never work. Even if she could bring the military officers back to their senses, the civilian separatists would not waver.  
  
But as she brooded over the developments in the city, her eyes drifted back the Phoenix's last report that indicated that she had one more reason to be worried. The courier ship had explained that during their search for the females, Broli's fleet had picked up signs of battle from HJ- 95B. They had immediately changed course to investigate, and arrived to find the remains of Misa's courier ships and all of their support vessels scattered across the surface of one of the moons of the third planet. It did not even need to be said, it was clear that the Supervision Army was behind it. Obviously, they had returned to their base to find the devastation of the moon where the Phoenix's main cannon had destroyed their production base, and she took this to mean that whoever their leader was probably had the ability to put two and two together and figure out that the same people who ambushed his fleet at Gallaron were behind the destruction of his base. This being true, Misa felt a new level of anxiety as she envisioned great hordes of angry warships lined up to exact revenge on the hapless Megaroad and her Gallaron allies.  
  
At 8:35, she passed the order on to the technicians in the factory satellite to use whatever means necessary to speed up their work, and she explained to them that they were now working on an un-determined time limit. The technicians had guessed the hidden meaning in the statement, and redoubled their efforts with maniacal alacrity. No sooner had she hung up the phone did she get a call on a private line from somewhere else in the city. "Captain speaking." She said automatically.  
  
"Misa, it's me."  
  
"Oh, hi Minmei! What can I help you with?"  
  
"Well, did Hikaru talk to you about meeting my hus... er boyfriend Richard for dinner?"  
  
Misa grinned. Her curiosity about the mysterious Richard quickly mounting. "He mentioned it. Why? You wanna set something up?"  
  
"I guess you could say that."  
  
Misa looked at her schedule to find an opening. "Well, I'm booked solid with tech meetings and briefings, but I think..."  
  
"Tomorrow morning, St. Mary's Church, 10:30 AM."  
  
Misa looked at her schedule. "Oh... sorry Minmei that's kind of a bad time..."  
  
"This is important. I need you to be there."  
  
"C'mon Minmei, it's just breakfast. Can't you just reschedule?"  
  
Minmei sounded agitated on the phone. "Misa, who ran halfway across Megaroad city to find your husband when you had the baby?"  
  
Misa felt like a child on a schoolyard, trying to squirm her way out of buying lunch for her best friend. "Well yeah but..."  
  
"For that matter, who in this entire ship baby-sits for that little psycho more often than I do?"  
  
"But Minmei..."  
  
"Oh, who talked that director into cutting out the whole Roy/Misa sex scene from Fokker's Fate? Have you already forgotten about that?"  
  
Misa was defeated. She knew she owed Minmei a lifetime of gratitude for THAT whole fiasco. She was still angry with the studios for even attempting to imply that she'd had some kind of relationship with Roy Fokker, but she was still eternally grateful for Minmei's help in restricting rampant free speech. "You're right, you've bailed me out too many times since we started this voyage and I owe you."  
  
Minmei exhaled slowly. "Damn right you owe me! But really, I just want you to be there. As my friend." She said solemnly.  
  
Misa giggled. "You sound so serious Minmei! Lighten up! I mean it's just breakfast, right?"  
  
"Uhhh...Right." Minmei said, suppressing a chuckle. "I'll see you tomorrow."  
  
--08:55--  
  
Broli crouched through the door to the Phoenix's main bridge to the sight of many drowsy crewmen half asleep at their stations. Lieutenant Gallow was bobbing from side to side, and Ensign Ryder's head was tilted back and she appeared to have fallen asleep on her feet with her hands on her consol. Broli himself could emphasize, he felt the same way. "Ops, how long until they fix the damn P.A. system?"  
  
The operations officer yawned and looked over her boards again. "Still working on it sir." She rested her head on her elbow and murmured, "What's it like below decks? I haven't been off duty in 10 hours."  
  
"The timing seems to have slowed down. Reveille only sounds every 4 minutes now..." Broli could just make out the far off screaming of trumpets from the lower compartments as the morning reveille played over the P.A. system for the 85th time that morning. "I hate computers. We should just hire someone just to blow the damn horns in the mornings and then let him sleep when he's not needed."  
  
"Yeah, I know."  
  
Broli walked up to the captain's chair on the bridge and buried himself in the seat. He was getting used to command of a warship, the many nuances and procedures, the chain of command and all the regulations to remember, it was almost exactly like being a squad leader of a fighter squadron, only now he was responsible for 20,000 people now instead of a meager 11 pilots. He walked up to the front of the bridge and shook Ensign Ryder, and she snapped awake and straitened up. "I'm sorry Captain..." she said.  
  
"Don't worry about it. Even I need to sleep sometimes, and you've been on your feet for almost 20 hours."  
  
Ryder nodded apologetically. "We sent Adrian bellow for coffee 10 minutes ago, but I think she fell asleep in the lounge..."  
  
The radar monitor started beeping from an energy signature detected far off in front of the ship, headed on an intercept course. Broli walked over and looked at the screen as the radar analysis came through. "Zentradi warships. This is the place alright."  
  
"Is it them sir?" Lieutenant Gallow asked from his station.  
  
He looked at the ships again and checked with the databanks. "No doubt about it. They're the meltrans we've been looking for."  
  
Lieutenant Gallow reached into his pocket for his rabbit's foot, and Ensign Ryder quickly murmured a Buddhist prayer. Broli took a deep breath and sat down in the captain's chair. "Activate pinpoint barrier system, and bring us in closer."  
  
"Aye Captain." Said Ryder. "We're steady on course. Contact point in 5 minutes..."  
  
A blinding radiant light appeared on front of the bridge from a defold reaction. Broli squinted through the harsh after image to see his fleet suddenly surrounded by Zentradi destroyers, and they were now face to face with a Nupitiet-Zergenitz class battleship. The ship immediately hailed them, and a woman's voice thundered through the speakers. "Gallaron soldiers, you are now the property of the Shikari fleet! Surrender your vessels and prepare to be boarded!"  
  
"Mike, open a channel." Broli said.  
  
Gallow swallowed and set up the communication line. The image that now formed on the giant holoscreen in front of the bridge showed a grim visage Zentradi woman wearing some kind of imposing body armor that made her look as vicious and deadly as they'd heard. Broli got the impression that there was something about her that made her seem much more threatening than she probably was, but he could no put his finger on it. He decided to suppress his own fears and speak formally and dispassionately. "We do not surrender to Zentradi. Surrender is something reserved for a superior enemy. If you're Supervisionists, fight us. If your hearts are Zentradi, join us."  
  
"Join you? Broli Kidranik?" She hissed, her lips curling in disgust. "And just why would I subject myself to YOUR lowly existence?"  
  
"Is your vessel fully operational? Do all of your battlepods have weapons and pilots?"  
  
Shikari's eyelid twitched, and Broli noticed he had hit the bullseye. "For your information, my forces are at 110% combat readiness, which is more than I can say for the Bodolza fleet, wouldn't you say?"  
  
Broli smirked. "Shikari, these micronians know how to repair our equipment. They are the last link we have to the people that created us, and they are willing to share that culture with us in exchange for our friendship."  
  
"You speak nonsense Broli! What possible purpose would it serve to befriend a micronian?! No more arguing with me! You have 30 seconds to surrender or I'll blow you out of the stars!"  
  
Broli could see the gun turrets being deployed on the bow of Shikari's battleship. "Standby to fire main cannon." He said. Ensign Ryder wiped the sweat off her forehead and opened the main gun. "Shikari, I can destroy your ship before you can even put a dent in this vessel. We have a new defense system that can repel your assault.  
  
"25 seconds!" She hissed.  
  
"We are rebuilding the factory satellites in orbit of the planet Gallaron. Soon we will have the capacity to build ships faster than the Supervision army can destroy them. Even YOU have to understand the significance of the micronian technology!"  
  
"20 Seconds!"  
  
"And even if you CAN destroy our ships, we have 400 on Gallaron that can still fight! They will come after you!"  
  
"15 Seconds!"  
  
Broli raised his voice as the tension built up. "Soon that number will double. You will no longer be the feared warrior Shikari. You'll be just another Regult pilot surrounded by your enemies, and then the others will engulf and devour you!" Something flashed across her grim face for a fraction of a heartbeat, but Broli caught it and took it to mean he had hit the target. "Soon, General, your name will no longer inspire fear in the hearts of warriors. Once Gallaron is strong again, you will become the object of ridicule!" That spark of emotion was there again, this time long enough for Broli to see it for what it was. Something about the idea of her loosing her reputation filled her with dread, and he knew he could use this to enlist her cooperation at least to a minor extent. This lead him to a new idea, a hunch of sorts, and decided to try and run with it to see how far he could go. "General Shikari, I demand Diwigadrasu!"  
  
Shikari's eyes widened. "A-A duel?!"  
  
"I challenge your authority as a leader and as a Zentradi! I will come aboard your ship and we will fight for command of your fleet."  
  
Shikari stared at him for a moment and then laughed. "Broli, you ARE a fool after all! You really expect me to fall for such an obvious ploy?!"  
  
There was something strained and artificial about her laughter that reminded Broli of something else, but once again he could not think of what. His gut instinct told him that she was hiding something, some weakness that he had accidentally exposed with the challenge. "I expected you, being the fierce warrior that you are, would not back down from a challenge from ANYONE, least of all a micronized Zentradi."  
  
"You insult me Broli. You will not live to regret it. Restore yourself to your warrior's size and meet me on my ship in one hour. Then I shall have the pleasure of disemboweling you and feeding your remains to a trall!"  
  
Broli smiled as the screen cut off and the channel closed. He looked over at Amelia and Mike, who were both terrified at the events that had just taken place. "Captain you can't be serious! You're going to fight that... that crazy Amazon?!"  
  
Broli smiled wider. "I don't think it'll be a problem. Something is very odd about her. I can't put my finger on it, but she's hiding something. I have to see what it is for myself."  
  
"Be careful sir." Amelia said as he left the room.  
  
  
  
--09:45--  
  
The Bokata system is devoid of all life and has been so for many centuries. 6 years ago, a battle began between the last strings of the Supervision Army and the Bodolza fleet in what was to be the mother of all space battles. The initial engagement did not go well for the Zentradi, but the Bodolza fleet's 4 million warships were more than a match for the Supervision Army's 10 thousand remaining vessels. The first wave was destroyed easily by the Supervisionists, but the second wave that arrived managed to inflict major damage, destroying most of the enemy fleet and crippling their command fortress beyond the ability to fold out of the system. Though they survived that attack and defeated their attackers, the third wave was to be the death blow that would crush the Supervision Army once and for all. Their small fleet of 2000 ships was clearly no match for the armada that was about to fold into the system, even if they could repair their losses between battles. They were doomed.  
  
But the third wave never came. For that matter, no Zentradi ships ever entered the Bokata system ever again after that. A number of expeditions into Zentradi occupied space revealed something very odd; the Bodolza main fleet was gone, and so were most of the Zentradi forces throughout the surrounding area. It was as if their ancient enemy had simply vanished into thin air, or else gotten tired of the battle and simply packed up and left the galaxy for greener pastures. For those six years after the UN Spacey destroyed the Bodolza fleet, the Supervision Army had been sweeping the Arturo sector of the remnant Zentradi forces there, hunting them down one by one to either destroy them or capture their crew for use in rebuilding their numbers. Their ships were always cannibalized to strengthen their fleet, and by the time the Megaroad arrived at Gallaron they had well in excess of 3000 ships.  
  
But for all this determination and the expansion of the Supervision Army, there was no consciousness behind it. None of the soldiers had a will of their own, and none of the commanders even knew of their identity or origin other than that given to them by their master. The master himself had no true body of his own; the one he inhabited had come into his possession thousands of years ago and had since been gradually enhanced to fit his own needs. At this time, he was two hundred meters tall and weighed slightly more than three thousand metric tons. The body itself was no longer mobile, having been permanently linked to the captured Zentradi command fortress that had been his main vessel for eons. His name was Lacul, and at this point in history, he was the last proto-deviln still at large in the galaxy. 200 millennia ago, his comrades Gepernich, Gavil and Glavil, and the others had been overrun by the proto-culture soldiers and sealed up in the caverns of the very world in which they were created. Lacul's body was destroyed in that same battle, but he survived by inhabiting the body of a Zentradi commander in one of the attack fleets and escaped. Since then, he had tried to rebuild his lost fleet from scratch, using the old proto-culture battleships that were simple in design and easy to repair. Now he was finding his doors open for the first time, and the galaxy seemed his for the taking. "Bodolza and his armies are gone. The Zentradi are scattered and disorganized. The proto-culture is extinct, except for those under my power." He said, thinking out loud. "There is no one left who can stop me. Tell me Kraken, what do we need to become strong again?"  
  
Kraken was a micronized commander type Zentradi bred and trained by Lacul himself. He was one of the 3 living creatures in the entire Supervision Army that had any willpower of his own, and this made him infinitely valuable to Lacul. "Our facilities have been damaged. We need a factory satellite and newer equipment. The vessels in our fleet are ancient, even for proto-culture ships."  
  
Lacul turned his massive head to look at the little spec of a Zentradi standing on the catwalk next to his knees. "I know that, Kraken. But where would we get the things you speak of?"  
  
"The factory satellite in the Erredon system has vanished, obviously it's been moved somewhere. And our fleet has failed to capture the factory satellites at Gallaron."  
  
Lacul suddenly remembered something. "The new forces in that system used reflex weaponry against us, isn't that right?"  
  
"Yes my lord."  
  
"It has been 300 millennia since we last had access to reflex weapons. Regaining that advantage would be an important step..."  
  
"But we don't need Gallaron for that my lord. Our patrol fleets have observed a small group of micronians moving into the Arturo sector who also carry the weapons in vast numbers. We might try their home planet..."  
  
"It would be unwise to attack either Gallaron or these new micronians without our own reflex weapons. It is an advantage we cannot overcome." Lacul remembered what had happened when the proto-culture finally exhausted his supply of reflex weapons after a very skillful campaign of resource containment. Only then, he recalled, did the tide really start to turn against him. The anima-spiritia were merely the final nail...and an enormous nail at that... in the coffin of his demise. "Tell our patrol fleet to capture those micronians and drain their spiritia. We will capture their weapons and use them as templates to produce our own."  
  
"Yes my lord. I will give the orders at once."  
  
  
  
--10:02--  
  
Broli did not expect someone like Shikari to be unaccustomed to fighting with men. Her reputation preceded her as one of the few Zentradi commanders who ever bothered to take prisoners, which he assumed was one of the things that made her so resourceful strategically secure. Exactly what happened to those prisoners after she pumped them for information, no one could say, but the fact that they'd been held at all meant plainly that the great warlord Shikari had overcome the old superstition on her own.  
  
Once he was macronized and dressed in his traditional body armor, the Zentradi transport ship docked with Shikari's battleship and Commander Broli stepped on board. He was escorted under armed guard to the training floor underneath the bridge that was generally used for just such a purpose, a massive circular room 100 meters in diameter with floors stained with blood. There was a slightly raised platform in the center of the room, on which Shikari waited for them in a black robe over her own body armor. When they entered the room the General was sitting at one end of the platform on a massive seat that appeared to be lined with Zentradi skeletons. "My dear General, it is time for you to die."  
  
Shikari herself looked huge, and her throne appeared to have been made for someone far smaller than her. Despite returning to his original size, Broli felt like a micronian in her presence. "Broli, you have one chance, just ONE CHANCE to withdraw your challenge, and no one will think less of you."  
  
Broli stepped onto the fighting floor and looked Shikari dead in the eye. "I am not going to yield. Step down from the throne and fight me."  
  
Shikari seemed to be considering something, but glanced over as two of her soldiers stepped onto the platform. "Don't! I'll take this one myself." She said coldly. The two women looked at her nervously and stepped back down to leave the room.  
  
Broli's head was throbbing with anxiety, but he decided to take his gamble to the farthest extreme even if it killed him. "I didn't actually come to fight you General. I came here to offer you a position in the new Army of Gallaron. We need you more than you know."  
  
This intrigued her. She smirked down on him from her throne and chuckled mischievously. "You need me, do you? What's the matter Broli, loose your stomach for fighting?"  
  
"I never intended to fight you General. I simply wanted to place this offer on the table should you become interested. And I happen to know, you did not intend to fight me either, that's why I took the risk."  
  
Shikari glowered at him. "Really? And what makes you think I would back down from the likes of you?"  
  
Broli took a deep breath and dove off the deep end of fate. "Stop playing Shikari. The Micronians do this trick too. I saw it on a TV special."  
  
Shikari looked at him strangely. "A what?"  
  
"Your throne is lined with skulls and bones, but you've reduced the proportions of the bones in order to make yourself look bigger."  
  
"W-WHAT?!"  
  
"And the lighting conditions here cast shadows on your skin. Makes you look stronger, and much more intimidating."  
  
"How could...?!"  
  
"And you're using a hologram to hide the fact your feet don't touch the floor. You are not actually a commander type Zentradi, are you?"  
  
Shikari came half out the chair. "Bastard! Get the hell off my ship!"  
  
Broli stood his ground and continued. "You were designed for data collection and tactical analysis like Exodor Follono and Dr. Varcus. You were hoping I would back down based on your reputation so you wouldn't have to fight, but you were mistaken."  
  
Shikari was speechless. For a few minutes she didn't say anything, but eventually she stepped down from the throne and approached him. He was not at all surprised when the lighting shifted and he saw her at last for what she really was. She was actually quite a attractive, a gentle looking young meltran with a very innocent face and an athletic but certainly unremarkable body type. When she stood in front of him, she was a full head shorter than him and quite a bit thinner. Even Misa would have looked more imposing in Zentradi armor. But something in her voice had also changed. It was soft, somewhat musical in a way, and there was a fluid quality to it that almost reminded him of Minmei. "You can't possibly know what it's like." She said sadly. "The Zentradi are the most formidable fighting force in the galaxy, and here I am, the weakling who somehow got command of one of Lap Lamiz's battlgroups. I'm an illusion, a trick of light with no power and no real strength."  
  
Broli nodded. "Your reputation fights your battles for you. The enemy considers retreat before the battle even begins. But do you think the Supervision Army cares about your reputation?"  
  
"As long as we keep the others between us and them, we can stay out of direct contact. Most of what my soldiers do now is to herd the other factions into other systems closer to Bokata so they'll leave us alone."  
  
"Bokata? Is that where their base is?"  
  
"We think so, but we're not certain." Shikari looked down and stared at her feet. "Broli... please kill me."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I can't accept your challenge, I'm just a tactician. I am a coward, and you have to kill me. It is our way."  
  
"I know. But the times have changed. I need YOU more than I need your ships."  
  
"Then I am yours to command, Broli Kaalcha."  
  
Broli was slightly uncomfortable with the situation. Reducing General Shikari to slavery was hardly what he'd intended, and he was not about to subject her to such a humiliation on her own flag ship. "That won't be necessary. I retract my challenge."  
  
Shikari nodded, and turned her gaze away from his eyes. For almost a minute she stood there staring at her feet, and Broli simply waited there in front of her, wondering what to do next. "Shikari," he said at last. "Why don't you join forces with us? The Micronians have restored our link with proto-culture, and soon we will be strong enough to take the fight to the Supervision Army ourselves. We could use a good tactician like you."  
  
"I'm sorry Broli, I can't. The time is not right for us to challenge the proto-deviln."  
  
Broli nodded and turned around to leave. "Then incase you change you mind, I will inform my people to expect your arrival."  
  
"No!" She said looking up again. "They can't know about this! Tell them... tell them I will be watching."  
  
"Watching for what?"  
  
"Just watching. They should interpret that how I expect them to."  
  
Broli grinned and started to leave the room. "You ARE a tactician aren't you?" he said, disappearing through the door. 


	14. Chapter 13: The Beginning of the End

Chapter 13: The Beginning of the End  
  
--April 23, 2016--  
  
--10:30--  
  
Hikaru stopped for a moment to make once last minute check of his wife and daughter to make sure they were all still bolted to the ground. Miko was her normal energetic self, but there was a mischievous grin on Misa's face that Hikaru recognized as trouble. "No jokes Misa."  
  
"What's wrong with a joke?"  
  
Hikaru took a step forward and grabbed her shoulders. "Misa, I'm BEGGING you not to make jokes."  
  
Misa rolled her eyes. "Lighten up Hikaru..."  
  
"I mean it! Minmei made me promise you wouldn't tell jokes!"  
  
"But my jokes are funny..." Misa said defensively.  
  
Hikaru grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the church. "Just because Miko laughs at all of them doesn't mean they're funny!"  
  
Misa snorted. "But my jokes ARE funny, aren't they Miko?"  
  
"Yeah!" Miko agreed. "Mommy's funny!"  
  
Misa smiled appreciatively, but Hikaru just shook his head in disgust. "Hurry up. We're gonna be late."  
  
As soon as they entered, they immediately felt uncomfortable. Misa looked around the room nervously, but could not see another soul in sight. "Hikaru, why are we meeting Minmei in a church again?"  
  
Hikaru shrugged. "I asked her about it, but she said it was a surprise."  
  
"In a church...?" Misa had an inspiration. "No wonder nothing happened between them. Richard must be a priest or something!"  
  
Hikaru laughed. "Now honestly, could you picture Minmei with a holy man?"  
  
Misa shook her head. "I guess not..."  
  
They opened the door to the lobby and stepped inside. Almost as soon as they came in, the inner door opened slowly and Minmei emerged in an extremely elaborate white dress. Hikaru and Misa both found themselves staring at her, searching for some explanation as to just why she would be wearing a wedding dress other than the most obvious conclusion. "Well don't just stand their slack jawed! How do I look?" She said playfully.  
  
Both of them were too stunned to move, but Miko started jumping up and down again. "You're pretty aunt Mimmay!"  
  
"Thanks Miko!" She said with a smile. She looked back to Hikaru. "I had to bribe Richard's friend so he wouldn't say anything. I'm sorry to sneak this on you, but...well..."  
  
Hikaru coughed. "L-Lemme get this strait, you... are getting... married?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"Today?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"Right NOW?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
Misa shook her head quickly as if snapping out a trance. She had become mesmerized by the reflective patterns of the sunlight on Minmei's dress, and was only now collecting her senses. "You need bridesmaids or something?" She said sheepishly.  
  
"No, I got some of the girls from the restaurant, but I want Hikaru to give me away, and I REALLY need you to stay close to the front just in case I chicken out."  
  
Misa nodded as a memory crept into her mind. She had asked the exact same favor of Sammy and Claudia on her own wedding day, and had come just a heartbeat away from needing their services.  
  
But Hikaru had more constructive concerns. "Who's the lucky guy?"  
  
"I want you to meet him after the ceremony. I'm sure you'll like him. He's the sweetest man you could ever know."  
  
Hikaru scratched his head. "You said the same thing about Kaifun."  
  
Minmei slapped his shoulder. "I'm never gonna live that down am I?"  
  
"No." He said plainly. "How am I supposed to give you away if I don't even know the guy?"  
  
"Just trust my judgment. And don't tell anyone or there'll be a media circus."  
  
Hikaru held up his right hand and put his left hand on Miko's head. "I swear on this little sugar-craving maniac, your secret's safe with me."  
  
--10:45--  
  
The system that Admiral Bennet's fleet arrived in was known by the Zentradi as "Berren Dalkaan." or "Giant Star" and for good reason. The central star in the system is a yellow/white giant 30 thousand times hotter than the Earth's sun and several million times larger, and the system itself consists of 7 rocky planets and 12 gas giants, each with an extensive system of moons. It was a cluttered star system, with a great deal of asteroidal debris orbiting every planet in the system and bombarding each of them from time to time, but Admiral Bennet's sensors were more than able to trace the debris from the Megaroad's battle with the renegade Zentradi.  
  
The search teams sifted through the wreckage of the ships that had been destroyed by the Phoenix, finding a number of damaged Valkyrie fighters and wreckage of dead Regults everywhere they looked, and Admiral Bennet was now certain that the Megaroad was being chased by a Zentradi group, and that these craft were part of the unit that had been harassing them. What mystified them was the apparent firepower of the Megaroad fleet based on this wreckage. Surely the Zentradi battleship and the destroyer groups could not have done so much damage with just their antiquated weapons systems and the few reflex missiles they had taken on before departure, but then he remembered that first battle against Britai's flagship, and the powerful barrage it had unleashed in response to his missile attack. "Radar, any sign of vessels in this area?"  
  
"No sir. No sign of the Megaroad or any of its escorts. And the survey teams report no debris form any of their ships either."  
  
Bennet scratched his jaw again. "It doesn't make sense. If someone was chasing them, how could they have gotten so far without loosing any ships?"  
  
"I don't know sir. Maybe…" The radar board suddenly went insane. The screen lit up like a Christmas tree and let out a low wail to indicate an energy reaction. "Multiple defolds! HUNDREDS of them!"  
  
"What?! Where are they?!"  
  
"They're... EVERYWHERE! They're surrounding us Captain!"  
  
Bennet ran to the window and looked out. He could see flashes around his ship as hundreds of unknown ships appeared in the space beyond the asteroids, each of them only visible by the flares from their engines. "How far?!"  
  
"100 thousand kilometers… sir they're firing!"  
  
"Evasive action! Prepare to fold…" Before the words even left his mouth, a particle beam smashed into the underside of ARMD-16 and punched through the hull like paper. The deck tossed and pitched from the impact, and the sound of explosions rumbled through the ship.  
  
"Direct hit sir! Hull breach on deck… Shit! They only targeted the fold boosters!"  
  
Bennet looked up at the fleet around them. All of the Zentradi ships were being bombarded from all sides, but the ARMD platforms took only one or two hits that disable their fold systems and sublight drives. The single destroyer they had brought with them lasted only a few seconds before the combined fire power of over a hundred ships tore it apart, and in only a matter of moments the ARMD platforms were totally alone. "Dammit! Prepare to fire reflex missiles!"  
  
His executive officer was sweating bullets. "We'll need 2 minutes to arm them sir!"  
  
"Then you'd better hurry!" He snapped as another beam struck the hull. At about that moment, the enemy fire seemed to fizzle out into nothingness. No beams and no missiles passed over the hull now, and Bennet knew that the enemy was probably launching fighters to capture him. He didn't understand why they were doing this, but he didn't want to stick around to find out.  
  
The radar officer did another scan and reported in. "Enemy fighters closing in. Mostly powered armors. I'm also picking up 23 additional defolds!"  
  
"Ignore the new ships! All batteries, target the enemy fighters!"  
  
ARMD-16's defensive guns and missiles opened fire, laying down a thick screen to keep the enemy powered armors away from them until Bennet could launch his reflex missiles and, hopefully, find and escape path. Despite his stubborn heart, Admiral Bennet could tell deep down that this was the end of his journey. He could not fight off a hundred warships with just three ARMD platforms, but lord knows he would try. "All engines full ahead! As soon as the missiles are ready, open fire full barrage!"  
  
"Captain, the new contacts are approaching fast! Range 100 thousand and closing!"  
  
Bennet sat down in his chair as the engines came on and the ship started to move. "We'll worry about the new comers lat…" A powerful beam of light crossed the bow of the ship, missing the little ARMD carrier by only 500 meters before crossing through the emptiness of space and striking down three of the Supervision Army destroyers. Half of their fleet redirected fire towards the new vessels, only to come under fire themselves a moment later. "What the hell is going on?"  
  
"Sir, they're hailing is..." Said his First officer.  
  
"Show me."  
  
The viewscreen buzzed on and the Admiral was confronted with the image of a Zentradi man in UN Spacey uniform. "This is Commander Broli Kidranik of the Megaroad defense fleet. Move your ships to point L-14 in the asteroids and that'll give you some cover from the enemy guns. We'll cover you until we can escape."  
  
Bennet saw the ship that was the source of the signal and suddenly it all made sense. He would have to question this officer and maybe have Misa court-martialed, but now was not the time for that. "Commander Broli, if we get into the asteroids we'll be sitting ducks for their fighters!"  
  
"We'll give you fighter support! Splinter squadron is almost there, just get going before they disable your main engines!"  
  
Bennet nodded and closed the channel. His ship immediately dove for a cluster of planetoid fragments in the direction of the Phoenix and its escorts, and Bennet could see Valkyrie and Zentradi fighters rushing to meet him in the distance. But his radar showed him that the enemy fighters were closer, and that they would overtake them in seconds. "All Lightning fighters, engage the enemy!" He shouted into the handset. The fighter squadrons complied, and then stopped responding only a few seconds later.  
  
Bennet's radar officer suddenly noticed something strange on his screens. "Sir, our fighter units all stopped moving!"  
  
"Unbelievable! How could they have…"  
  
"No sir, they weren't shot down, they just stopped! None of them are fighting back and the enemy is ignoring them!"  
  
Bennet gripped the arms of his seat in an impotent rage. Only a few more seconds and Broli's planes would be in position to help, but the enemy was closer, and now his life depended on his blind luck. As when Britai destroyed his ship in the beginning of the war, Bennet concentrated his will and his thoughts into surviving this battle. Over and over again he assured himself that he would not die here, as if forcing the universe to bend to his will just by sheer force of personality, and in many ways he was right. In too many ways, however, he was dead wrong.  
  
A single Zentradi powered armor charged through the defensive fire from the ship and stopped right in front of the bridge. It raised its arm and aimed a long energy rifle into the bridge of the ship and pulled the trigger, and everyone on the bridge was consumed by a blinding, piercing light. But when the beam cut off, the bridge was intact. There was no damage to the hull, no fire and no explosion. The only effect of the weapon was on the men, lying face down on the deck totally drained of energy. The other powered suits likewise swarmed around the ship and swept it with their beams, and after only a few moments the entire crew was catatonic.  
  
By now, the fighter units from Broli's ship had arrived and started to engage, but it was far too late to save them now. The other two ARMD platforms shared the same fate and were quickly immobilized while a group of powered armors carefully attached small fold boosters to the hull of ARMD-16. The Phoenix fired its main cannon and destroyed one of the Supervisionist destroyers to clear them a path, but there was not enough time to help. ARMD-16 folded out of the Berren System, followed in short by the other ships of the enemy fleet. The Supervision Army folded so quickly that they actually left thousands of their own soldiers in powered armors to face the SDF-Phoenix and its fleet, but this was only a small sacrifice for the bounty which they were about to receive.  
  
--11:00--  
  
Hikaru was still unsure of himself in this situation, and felt extremely awkward giving away the bride in a military uniform, but then he reminded himself once again that this was NOT Lynn Kaifun and probably not the same anti-military jackass he had come to know and despise.  
  
Walking Minmei down the isle seemed to take an eternity. He would have wanted to pick up the pace a bit in case Minmei lost her never somewhere along the way, but she didn't seem to waver one bit. Her eyes were locked onto the man at the alter without any doubts or cares. By the time they finally reached the front, Hikaru guessed Miko must have been a grandmother by now, but looking back he saw the little girl bouncing up and down in the 3rd row, and time suddenly moved at a normal pace again. Now, he realized, it was time to give away the bride. "Richard Powel," He began, "Will you be faithful to this woman, to honor and protect her?  
  
"I will sir." Richard said, looking at Minmei.  
  
"Will you love and cherish her, and keep her yours forever and..." his inexperience began to catch up with him, and he found himself clawing through his memory for the right words. "...and feed and clothe her and everything?"  
  
"I will, sir." Richard said, apparently not sensing the awkwardness of the moment.  
  
Hikaru half shrugged. "Then... ummmm... Hikaru and Misa Ichijo present to you the hand of Lynn Minmei for marriage." He brought Minmei forward, and he took her hand. "How was that?" He whispered in her ear.  
  
"You did great. Go sit down." She whispered back.  
  
"Sit down?"  
  
"SIT DOWN." She whispered louder.  
  
Hikaru shrugged and made his way to the 3rd pew where Misa was trying her best to keep Miko from blasting off. Almost as soon as he sat down, Miko crawled into his lap and sat there perfectly still, much to Misa's annoyance. "How come she only cooperates when YOU'RE around?"  
  
"Beats me." Hikaru said plainly. He looked at Minmei and Richard at the altar, then looked over at Misa. "It's incredible, isn't it? Minmei finding a husband out of thin air like that."  
  
Misa nodded. "She looks beautiful in that dress."  
  
"She sure does." Hikaru agreed. "And she didn't even have to borrow my scarf."  
  
--11:25--  
  
Broli looked at the two derelict ships floating in space with rising anxiety. The last of their crews had been brought on board the Phoenix and the skeleton crews were already in the process of repairing their maneuvering systems. The fold drives were not functioning, and that meant that they would have to dock with the Phoenix for the trip home. Broli had never been so worried in his life. This now meant that the Supervision Army had reflex weaponry for the first time in thousands of years, and with the other Zentradi factions splintered as they were, there was no way to stop them this time.  
  
"Commander Broli," Lieutenant Gallow called out. "We're being hailed sir. It's from a UN warship ten thousand to stern. We didn't detect it until just now."  
  
"Show me." Broli said.  
  
The main screen buzzed on and Claudia LaSalle appeared on the monitors. "This is ARMD-22 Maizuru to unidentified Super Dimension Fortress. Captain LaSalle commanding."  
  
"The new ship!" Broli walked to the front of the bridge and responded. "This is Commander Broli Kidranik of SDF-102, we read you loud and clear."  
  
Claudia leaned forward a bit. "Commander, we've run a trace on the enemy ships and we think they're headed for a place the Zentradi call the Bokata system. We need to go after them."  
  
Broli shook his head. "The last thing we should do is follow them. They captured those ships to reverse engineer their reflex weaponry so they can make their own. That ARMD carrier is a pretty old design so they probably won't be able to get much out of it, but the Maizuru has some equipment they might find VERY useful. Radar jamming technology, or a pinpoint barrier system..."  
  
"I understand that, but we can't just sit here..."  
  
"That's right, we can't. Once their commander hears about us he'll undoubtedly try and send more ships to try and capture us. We need to get on the move right away."  
  
Claudia looked confused. "Where could we go? And for that matter where's the Megaroad?"  
  
"Gallaron." He said, answering both questions. "There's a Zentradi fleet waiting for us there. Set course for the following fold coordinates, and we'll get under way."  
  
Claudia looked at him skeptically, but decided under the circumstances it was probably best to take his word for it. "I guess we'll have plenty of time for explanation later."  
  
"There will be. As soon as we've docked with the two carriers we'll depart at once. In the mean time, you might as well send out a couple of fighters to help out with those enemy stragglers."  
  
Claudia nodded to her first officer who passed the order to the on- duty squadrons. "Fighter support coming right up..."  
  
--11:45--  
  
"Richard, do you take this woman, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish above all others till death do you part?"  
  
"I do." He said smiling.  
  
The priest turned to Minmei. "Minmei, do you take this man, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish above all others till death do you part?"  
  
"Wow, that's a big question!" She whispered, looking at Richard. "I do." she said returning his smile.  
  
"Then by the power invested in me by the Megaroad Colony Government... and Captain Ichijo over there..." He nodded towards Misa, who waved shyly. "I now pronounce you man and wife." Minmei and Richard stared at each other, apparently waiting for each other to blink. "You may now kiss the bride." Still they stared, totally oblivious to the outside world beyond the bubble that suddenly enclosed both of them. The priest waited for a moment and then tapped them both on the shoulder, clearing his throat. "AHEM! Mr. Powel...?" Richard looked at the priest, and the priest nodded towards Minmei.  
  
He stared blankly for a minute then snapped out of his trance. "Of course..." He reached across the altar and kissed Minmei.  
  
At that exact moment, Misa and two of the bridesmaids collapsed into tears. Richard's friend from work, caught up in the moment, grabbed one of the other bridesmaids and kissed her. The old couple near the back of the room as witnesses giggled to themselves recalling youthful years gone by. Miko jumped up and started cheering on the 3rd pew, and Hikaru passed out and rolled onto the floor until Miko jumped down from the pew and landed squarely on his chest. She rebounded off his ribcage and ran over to Minmei, who by now was stepping down from the altar in a semi-trance hand in hand with her new spouse. "Aunt Mimmay!" she yelled out.  
  
Minmei snapped out her daze, scooped up the little girl and carried her for a few steps. "Miko, say hello to Richard. This is my new HUSBAND!"  
  
Miko looked over at Richard with a smile that threatened to split her face in half. "Hi Mr. Richard!" She said, reaching out one hand.  
  
"How are you Miko?" Richard shook her hand, and Miko squirmed out of Minmei's arms to drop onto the floor.  
  
"Aunt Mimmay, are you gonna have babies?"  
  
Minmei laughed. "Not this minute. I'll let you know, okay?"  
  
"Kay."  
  
Minmei had already introduced Richard to all the bridesmaids from the restaurant, and now she dragged him over to meet her two best friends who were still collecting their thoughts in the 3rd row. "Misa, Hikaru, this is my HUSBAND Richard."  
  
Misa was still crying her eyes out, but Hikaru was coherent enough to try and speak. "G-Good to meet you. Minmei talks about you all the time."  
  
"You too." Richard said flatly. "Where'd you meet her?"  
  
"South Ataria Island, during the war. A Zentradi soldier almost stepped on her, and I had to come and save her. Several times as it turned out."  
  
Richard laughed. "It seems like Zentradi REALLY enjoy hurting people, don't they?"  
  
"I wouldn't say they enjoy it. They're good at it, but I think alot of them would rather hear Minmei sing."  
  
Richard looked confused. "Sing?"  
  
Hikaru remembered what Minmei had told him at Corina's birthday party and decided to bail himself out. "Back on the Macross, this little wife of yours was know as the Karaoke Queen. We all thought she would go into showbiz, but she suffers from paralyzing stage-fright and never could perform to an audience of more than 12 people."  
  
Richard laughed, and Minmei breathed a sigh of relief. "Which gives me an idea for our first anniversary gift..."  
  
Misa finally stopped crying and looked up. "Hi I'm..." She glanced at Minmei in her wedding dress and started crying again.  
  
Minmei patted her on the back. "This is my best friend Misa." She said, looking at Richard. "Misa, this is my husband Richard." Misa reached up and shook hands with Richard with her right hand while crying into her left.  
  
"P-P-Pleased to meet..."  
  
"Yeah, you too." Richard said, slightly embarrassed.  
  
Hikaru handed Minmei a handkerchief, and Minmei gave it to Misa. "Richard, these two people are the dearest people in the world to me..." Miko tugged at her dress. "...and Miko..." Miko smiled warmly. "...so for all practical purposes, this is my family." Minmei would have included Corina's band, but that would have been far too hard to explain without tipping him off to her secret life as a semi-retired intergalactic superstar.  
  
"Great to meet you guys. I... well don't really HAVE a family so you'll have to forgive me."  
  
Misa was under control at last. "It's okay. After the Bodolza bombing, all we really have is each other."  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
They heard one of the doors opening in the church, and someone called out to them from the doorway. "Minmei, darling! How HAVE you been?" A thin woman with brown hair and a firey red dress ambled down the aisle towards them.  
  
Minmei stared for a moment, not recognizing the woman one bit even after she had walked right up to them. "Have we met?"  
  
"Oh, of course you don't remember me, and I don't blame you. I was a total bitch last time we met."  
  
"Uhhhh..."  
  
"You asked me for an autograph once at the Miss Macross pageant, and I said something ridiculous like "go buy a real autograph book." And a few weeks later at that party, I tried to spill red wine on that little green dress..."  
  
Minmei gasped suddenly, as did Richard after a moment when they both recognized her at the same time. "JAN MORRIS?!"  
  
She nodded. "I stopped dying my hair. Didn't recognize me huh?"  
  
They both shook their heads. "How did you know I was here?" Minmei said, wondering if maybe the secret had gotten out somehow.  
  
"Luke told me. He wanted me to arrange a honeymoon for you."  
  
"Luke?" Minmei was confused, but Jan pointed with her finger and the priest waved at her. "Oh, Father Luke."  
  
"That's right. It so happens that my hubby is part of the survey team they sent down to the planet, and I had him pick out the perfect spot for your honeymoon as soon as Father Luke mentioned to me you were getting hitched."  
  
Hikaru whistled. "Whoa! That's a heck of a favor for someone you haven't seen in 7 years."  
  
Jan winked at him. "This is my way of saying I'm sorry for being so jealous. I mean, we all end up in the same place when it's all said and done." she patted her belly, which they only now noticed was slightly swollen.  
  
"Yeah." Minmei said, looking at Richard. "The delivery room."  
  
Misa stood up suddenly. "I'll get you guys a permit to travel in the old city."  
  
"Thanks Misa. And thanks for the gift, Jan ."  
  
"Think nothing of it, dear." Jan winked at Minmei and started to leave the way she came. "Just call me if you have any questions. Luke has my number."  
  
"Okay." Minmei said as she left. Now she turned to Hikaru and Misa. "If you two will please excuse me, Richard and I have to be alone for a couple of.... hours."  
  
Hikaru didn't understand, but Misa was more than able to accurately guess what she was hinting at. "Oh that's so romantic!!" She spring forward and hugged Minmei, then she hugged Richard, then hugged Minmei again. Hikaru managed to restrain her before she got too emotional, and started to lead her into the parking lot.  
  
"I'll let you borrow my Lexus for a few days so you can get home without much trouble." He turned Misa around and pushed her through the back door, leaving Minmei alone with her husband.  
  
"So what now Mei?" Richard said.  
  
"Don't know Rich. You wanna make a baby?"  
  
Richard thought about it for a moment. "This is a big decision. Lemme think about it." He looked around the church for a moment, then back at Minmei. "You really wanna be a mother?"  
  
"Of course I do."  
  
"Then let's do it." He picked her up in his arms and carried her to back door of the church to await the return of Hikaru and the car that would carry Lynn Minmei and her new husband to their home for the first time.  
  
________________________________________________________________  
  
Author's Note:  
  
Jan Morris-- For those of you who don't remember, Jan Morris is the name of the movie star who everyone expected would win the Miss Macross pageant. Minmei ended up winning, (obviously) and Jan didn't take it very well.  
  
ARMD Carriers-- The original 10 ARMD carriers built by the UN Spacey defense force were fairly wimpy. None of them had any space fold capabilities or fold navigation systems, and were basically nothing more than spaceborn platforms for fighters and reflex missiles. In 2012, ARMD-1 and ARMD-2 were rebuilt and docked with the rebuilt and refitted SDF-1 Macross as it's arms. The other 8 originals were also rebuilt, as well as 10 additional ARMD carriers. At the time of this fanfic, these carriers are mainly used in fleet defense and tactical coordination, not unlike the Zentradi's Tou-Redir scout ships. Their fold drives are mounted externally on the underside of the ship and fit between the two sections of the hull.  
  
Maizuru-- I know that no one here (at least most of you) have not seen Macross 7 or do not remember this ship from Macross Plus, but the Maizuru class is one of the most common ships of the UN Spacey by the time of the great Isamu Dyson. Any time in Macross Plus of Macross 7 when you see a UN Fleet, you'll always see at least one of these ships in the background. 


	15. Chapter 14: On the Planet Gallaron...

Chapter 14: On the Planet Gallaron...  
  
--April 28, 2016--  
  
--12:42--  
  
The alarm they had brought with them was beeping again, and Richard reached across Minmei's body to turn it off. The time was a little after noon, but on the planet Gallaron it was only just dawn. Richard stood up and poked his head out of the tent they had set up at a campsite near the lake and yawned. The scenery was fantastic from this spot on to of the hill. The trees around them, some of them almost 500 meters high, reached up from the ancient forest at the base of the hill all around them. The tops of the trees just barely passed the top of the hill where their camp was set up, but he could still see lake further down the hull with crystal clear waters, the ancient city on the other side, and the makeshift airstrip the fighter groups had set up near the ruins for their planes. He started to wonder if there was any reason to go back to the ship at all.  
  
Two small hands slipped in under his arms and locked around his stomach. Richard took one of her hands and kissed it while Minmei rested her head on the back of his shoulder. "Oh Rich. It's so beautiful."  
  
"I could spend a thousand eternities here with you, just you an me, and this lake."  
  
Minmei came around in front of him and sat down on a tree stump. "You might get that chance. Misa said when we left that she will probably move the city down to the planet."  
  
Richard squatted down next to her and kissed the back of her neck. "She should. This planet is incredible! There aren't many insects or pests around, and all the animals here are totally harmless, hell most of them don't even have teeth!"  
  
"And they sure are tasty." Minmei added. "And I could get used to these 33 hour days."  
  
"Oh GOD yes!" Richard straitened up and started to message her shoulders. "The shuttle leaves in ten hours. Think we should start packing?"  
  
Minmei shook her head. "We should try to enjoy it while we still can." She looked around the hill for a moment. "Rich, let's build a house here. Right up on this hill."  
  
Richard smiled. "That's a great idea. Little house on the hill, two kids, and a... whatever that thing was that kinda looked like a dog."  
  
"And a boat, Rich! Don't forget the boat!"  
  
"Ah, the boat!" He kissed her neck again. "A little family yacht we'd use to go fishing. And in the summer, if this planet HAS a summer, I'd cook breakfast for you and we'd go swimming, and then we'd come home and you'd handle dinner..." He kissed her neck one more time, and felt her body almost melt into hid hands.  
  
"Don't forget, it's a 33 hour day. That's almost 10 extra hours, and we can't spend it all swimming. What would we do with all that extra time?"  
  
Richard turned her to face him and kissed her. "10 hours huh?" he said coyly. "Well, we've got about 10 hours to kill right now." He pulled her to her feet with an effort, feeling sluggish in this planet's gravity. "Come back to the tent with me and I'll show you..."  
  
"Why go back to the tent? There's nobody watching, show me right here."  
  
Richard turned around with a devious smile. "Right here? Outdoors?"  
  
Minmei smiled at him. "It'll give the squirrels something to look at."  
  
"That might not be safe. We're in about twice normal gravity, I might hurt you."  
  
"Then I'll be on top until you get your courage back." she teased.  
  
Richard laughed and kissed his wife again, and at the same time she started to take off her clothes.  
  
Even if the two of them had been paying very close attention to their surroundings, they probably would not have noticed that they were surrounded by people who could just vaguely understand their words. All around the newlyweds, in every direction for 5 kilometers, there were hundreds of eyes on them, watching their every move from concealment so thick that even the Megaroad's sensor array could not detect them. They watched with a certain fascination as they became gradually more and more convinced that the new visitors were clearly not Zentradi, though also clearly not one of them. They recognized Minmei and Richard to be something new, perhaps some distant relation to them, not of the same race but mostly likely genetically similar. The fact that these two also seemed to be husband and wife confirmed their suspicions, and the word was passed on quietly on the lips of thousands of passive observers. "They are just like us. They are proto-culture."  
  
--21:30--  
  
Hikaru and Misa were sitting at the dinner table at King Lao's, tearing into a carton of shrimp fried rice and wonton noodles. Misa's eyes were still sparkling from her emotional episode at the wedding, and Hikaru couldn't help but laugh. "And I thought you were nervous at OUR wedding." He said.  
  
Misa giggled. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. It was just..." She caught herself before she started crying again. "Damn. I guess I just can't handle weddings."  
  
"You didn't do any of this at Max's wedding. What's wrong with you now?"  
  
Misa thought about it. "I don't have a clue. I guess... maybe it's that Minmei's been so depressed lately, and then she met this Richard character and all of a sudden she was so happy... you know, how come you never made ME that happy?"  
  
"I don't make you happy? Shit, I better buy you some earrings."  
  
"Diamond earrings." Misa added. "And a gold necklace, and a pair of glass slippers..."  
  
Hikaru rolled his eyes. "I'm getting you a plastic ring and some tennis shoes."  
  
Misa laughed and scooped some of the rice into her bowl. "Speaking of which, you know they're coming back today."  
  
"I know. I sent the boys to pick her up."  
  
"The boys?"  
  
Hikaru grinned. "I assigned them a squad of marines as an entourage."  
  
Misa squinted at him. "Can you DO that?"  
  
"Why not? At least it'll give the grunts something to do. The Valkyrie pilots handle most of the hand-to-hand combat these days."  
  
"I guess so..." Misa poked at her food for a moment, trying to move on to another subject. "By the way, Varcus did a head count. He says this planet has at least 50 ships on its surface that are definitely salvageable, and maybe a 100 others that will need alot of work. Of course, there aren't that many Macross class ships, but there are plenty of smaller vessels that the Zentradi never modified for their own use. With a quick reprogramming job and a refit of the primary systems like the bridge and the command towers, we could get some of those things up and running within a week or two."  
  
Hikaru started to serve his own plate from the rice carton. "That would be a big help. Anyway, we still have the question of what to do with those ships when we're done with them." For several minutes, neither of them spoke. They sat quietly, eating dinner like a married couple for once, but the moment ended as Misa reached for the last wonton. "What are you going to tell Earth?"  
  
"Everything. I've already written up a full report and I plan to send it in if we EVER get that relay network operational."  
  
"Well re-write it. We need to leave this out of the reports for a little while."  
  
Misa was shocked, and Hikaru took that opportunity to seize the last wonton before she could grab it. "What the hell for?! This is big news! They'd go crazy if they knew we'd found a place like..."  
  
"What exactly do you think they'll say when you tell them about it?"  
  
Misa thought about it for a second. "I suppose they'll tell us to send some of the technology back to Earth. And they'll want to send a research team and a small fleet to help defend the planet."  
  
"That's exactly right. But you know we can't let them do that."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Earth doesn't have the resources to commit to something like that. We'd be dragging them into another war they just can't handle."  
  
Hikaru crunched into the wonton, and only now did Misa realize he had taken it. But for now, she had bigger concerns. "Oh really? And just what makes you think WE have the resources for something like that?"  
  
"Well, we have not one, but TWO factory satellites that could be fully operational again within the next two weeks. Once all the Zentradi ships are repaired and their crews replaced, we can mass produce Macross class battle cruisers and build up our defenses. Earth is in enough trouble as it is. We can't afford to dump something this big one them."  
  
"That's ridiculous! We're a lone colony that only JUST STARTED it's settlement! There's no way we could do this without support from Earth, and you know that! What the hell are you thinking?!"  
  
Hikaru looked away. Misa noticed a strange glint in his eye she had never seen before. "I can see history repeating itself, and so do the rest of us. A few years ago we made a horrible mistake, and 6 billion died because of it..."  
  
Misa did not understand at all what he was hinting at, but she never got the chance to ask. All over the ship, and in the factory satellite, the air raid siren started to wail. Hikaru and Misa were both out the door before either of them could say another word to each other.  
  
--21:32--  
  
As the sirens wailed through the ship, a squad of armed marines rushed the shuttle and threw the doors open, quickly unloading the 12 passengers into smaller transport vehilces that would take them into the shelter capsules of Megaroad city. One of the soldiers quickly located his objective, the two civilians in the hiking clothes near the back of the shuttle. "Mr. Powel, follow me. We have a transport waiting to take you home."  
  
Minmei stood up from her seat and followed Richard and the 7 marines out of the shuttle to an APC at the other end of the landing bay. As soon as they were inside, the vehicle surged ahead, screaming down the access tunnels towards Megaroad city. "Do you know what's going on?" Minmei said, listening to the air-raid sirens outside.  
  
"No idea. Something to do with renegade Zentradi." Said the Lieutenant.  
  
Richard snorted. "Who else would it be?"  
  
"Why are you taking home like this? All the others are..."  
  
"Colonel's orders." The Lieutenant said, grinning slightly at Minmei. "There must be something pretty special about you."  
  
Minmei shot him a strange look. "You've never seen me before?"  
  
"He said you were some kind of VIP, but he didn't give me details. Grunts like us don't exactly follow the papers if you know what I mean. Hell, I haven't seen a real movie in over 3 years."  
  
Minmei chuckled. "I'm no one special, just a good friend of the colonel."  
  
"He seems to place a high value on you. And unless this truck's got really bad lighting it's easy to see why." He winked at her and Minmei blushed.  
  
"Well, thank you."  
  
At that moment, the vehicle slowed in the tunnel and pulled into an airlock set into the bulkhead. A large metal door closed behind them, sealing them off from the environment of the ship. If there was a hull breach in that area, the people in the APC would have enough air and water to survive for several days. The Lieutenant waited for the driver to kill the engine and change over to battery power, then stowed his rifle and gear in the compartment over his head. "So, you two are newly weds?"  
  
"That's right." Richard said. "Just came back from our honeymoon."  
  
"Congratulations." Said the private next to the Lieutenant, a woman who easily could have been in grade school. "You two make a great couple you know. It'll be a pleasure looking after you."  
  
"Huh?" Said Richard, sharing in Minmei's confusion.  
  
The Lieutenant scratched the back of his head. "I guess the colonel never told you. He assigned my squad as your bodyguards. Whenever you leave the ship or get into any trouble, we're your all purpose problem solvers."  
  
Richard squinted at him, then glanced around the APC at the grinning faces of the other 7 marines. "Is that legal?"  
  
"Probably not, but what else are we supposed to do? Zentradi grunts are 50 feet tall. All we could do is give them indigestion."  
  
"Point taken." Minmei said, grimacing. "I'm sorry, but I didn't catch your name..."  
  
"Oh that's right. Just call me Lieutenant Chan."  
  
--21:42--  
  
Misa burst onto the bridge of the Megaroad and ran to the front. "What's going on?" She said over the alarms.  
  
Corina looked puzzled. "Several Zentradi vessels just folded into low orbit, headed for Gallaron City."  
  
"Did you warn the survey team?"  
  
"Yes sir, but they're not typical Zentradi. Captain Gouraz has identified them as the Shiar Nation."  
  
"The who?"  
  
"Just a sec...." Corina said. "All fighter units standing by Skull and Vermillion Squadrons are in hot, Voodoo, Fish and Black Lion squadrons are holding in low orbit."  
  
"What's the word from Iron Chiefs?"  
  
"They're having a lot of trouble sir… Captain, we just regained radio contact with Hikaru's wing. They must be out of re-entry sir."  
  
"Uh huh…" Misa had a very bad feeling all of a sudden, and she did not know why. This was no different from any of the other scramble missions in the past month, and she tried to assure herself that everything was normal, but the more she tried to calm herself the more agitated she became. "Who's the Shiar Nation anyway?"  
  
"According to Varcus, the Zentradi came across an open society alot like ours about 3000 years ago and it made their soldiers refuse to fight. There were alot of desertions and some internal fighting and the Zentradi decided to just quarantine the system and keep their distance. The alien culture went extinct, and the Zentradi who stayed behind inherited their planet for their own, and almost immediately started fighting over it. Karga says they drop by every once in a while just to stir up trouble for no apparent reason, but this is the first time they've ever attacked the surface."  
  
"Hmmmm..." Misa felt better about the idea that there were just renegade Zentradi, but she still had the feeling that there was something terribly wrong, something out of place about this incident. "Be careful Hikaru..." She said under her breath. And the she remembered Minmei. "Are we expecting any shuttles from the surface?"  
  
"The last one just docked a minute ago sir. Cargo shuttle with 12 passengers."  
  
Misa gave a sigh of relief. "That's good. Keep me informed of the situation on the ground."  
  
  
  
--21:50--  
  
"This is Skull Zero to fighter group, we've cleared the atmosphere. All fighters switch to flight mode."  
  
Behind him, Voodoo and Vermillion squadron opened their canopy shields and swept their wings forward. They were now flying over the planet Gallaron, and Hikaru couldn't help but stop to look at it. It was exactly the way Earth used to be, only much bigger. There were trees hundreds of meters high and fields of flowers so radiant he almost had to squint at them. "Welcome home fellas." Said Lieutenant Harper over the radio.  
  
"Harper, where are you?"  
  
"Three clicks west of your position. Enemy ships have made planet fall and they're moving along a canyon so our gunners can't pick them off from orbit."  
  
"Clever." Hikaru said, changing course to join Iron Chiefs Squadron. "How many?"  
  
"I'd say three or four cap ships and at least a thousand Regults."  
  
"That's all?" Hikaru said plainly. "I thought this would be hard!"  
  
"Yeah, well there's a problem. We can't use reflex missiles here. The old city is too close to the blast radius."  
  
Hikaru passed over Harper's Lightning and landed a few dozen meters in front of it in battloid mode. He could see flashes of explosions where the Zentradi pods were fighting the enemies, and but the forest was too thick for him to make out the details. "When did they arrive?"  
  
"They came out of the atmosphere almost the same time you guys launched. Captain Gouraz pegged one from orbit, but the others started running the canyon. We tried a run on them about 20 minutes ago, but the canyon covers them too well. I've already lost half my squadron."  
  
Hikaru checked his radar and made sure the last of the fighter wing had set down before issuing more orders. "Okay people, we're gonna take down those warships. Switch to gerwalk configuration and stay low. We'll try and use the canyon to our advantage."  
  
With a bizarre combination of speed and patience, the 42 fighters of Hikaru's attack wing circled around the battle zone where the two groups of Regults were fighting each other. They descended into a massive canyon almost 2 kilometers wide, and as planned they were far behind the enemy ships. "Move it people! Remember, hug the ground, make them change the angles. Go airborne and you're dead!"  
  
"Yes sir!" They all replied.  
  
It only took them all 5 minutes to catch up the Zentradi ships, and Hikaru was surprised to see that all three of the ships had been painted jet black. As soon as they rounded the bend and came within sight of the warships they started taking fire from the enemy guns. Fortunately, a destroyer was taking up the rear and Voodoo squadron managed to destroy its rear defense turrets, but the battleship was further ahead and they could not get past the shielding hull of the first destroyer. Eventually, the Valkyrie unit landed on the hull of the destroyer and fired on the battleship from there, but the great battlewagon simply demolished the destroyer with a barrage from its rear guns, forcing the fighters to fall back once again. The fighters trailed the ship from a distance of 6 kilometers as it moved along the canyon towards the ancient proto-culture city, but the barrage it set forth in front of them was too thick for them to advance. At one point Vermillion Squadron made a desperate charge and started firing missiles, but each of them was hit as they got closer and in under a minute all 12 fighters were smoldering in heaps on the ground.  
  
"We don't have time for this boss!" Harper shouted on the com. "They'll be in range of the city soon!'  
  
Hikaru could see on the map that in only a matter on minutes the ships would be too close for the defense grid around the city to be able to pick off the enemy missiles. The only way to win now was extremely risky, but it was better than nothing. "Harper, can we get a missile bombardment in this canyon?"  
  
"The destroids aren't operational yet sir!" He answered.  
  
Hikaru knew now he had no choice. The Zentradi ships now rounded another bend in the canyon, and they only had a few minutes, if not seconds, to stop the enemy ships. "All fighters, prepare to charge! Voodoo Squadron stay in gerwalk and get in low. Skull squadron, get in above them and dive bomb from the rear quarters. Harper, up the pipe!"  
  
"Roger!"  
  
As soon as they rounded the corner behind the Zentradi, they split up into their groups and swarmed the battleship. As expected, the ship divided its defensive fire between the two groups high and low, leaving Harper just a moment's opening to fly between the two lines of fire. He slammed his throttles forward and fired his proton missiles up the ship's tailpipe shouting, "Bombs away!" When he got too close, he pulled up to avoid a collision at close to 700 knots. His wingmen did the same, banking high and right just as a series of explosions thundered behind them as the missiles exploded in the Zentradi's impulse drives. The ships lost maneuvering power but not energy, and its defensive batteries avenged her wounded engines by shooting down two of Harper's wingmen. "Boss, we took his legs but we're getting pasted up here!"  
  
"Hold on Harper! I'll be right there…" Hikaru banked to avoid some of the defense fire, and then launched the last of his own missiles at the battleship. They exploded in her hull just behind the bridge, knocking out some of the defense guns, and the others now searched the sky for a new target. The battleship was crippled now, its only means of escape being its fold system, but for the Valkyrie pilots the job was not done yet. "Get in closer and take out their gravity control!" He almost seemed to follow his own orders as he dove in again to get to his target, and the rest of Skull Squadron moved to follow. He scanned for a moment and picked up the energy signature where the gravity control systems held the ship aloft and fired several bursts from his beam guns into the hull. The shots did some damage and loosened the hull enough for him to punch through, but the battleship answered back with its guns and struck down two of Hikaru's fighters. "Keep firing!" He yelled over the roar of his jets. "Keep the pressure on! We've almost got…"  
  
Hikaru never did notice that the destroyer, seeing the peril of its command ship, had turned around in the canyon to cover it until they could power up for a refold. One opportunistic gunner on the ship took aim at the diving squadron at an altitude of 2000 feet and fired, striking Skull Zero directly through the fuselage between the engines. At that high speed, the plane quickly disintegrated into a spray of flaming, twisted metal that scattered into the air and drifted lazily to the ground like so many dandelion seeds.  
  
The rest of Skull Squadron transformed just before they hit the ship and smashed through the hull, crashing through three decks before coming to a halt near the main reflex furnace. A short burst from several gunpods and 200 rounds later, the battleship was completely out of power, and collapsed useless to the floor of the canyon.  
  
--22:25--  
  
"Skull Leader to Delta Control, mission accomplished. Requesting emergency medical teams and search parties to be sent down to the surface. We will remain on station, over." The call came in from Skull Leader, but the voice was Lieutenant Harper's. The rest of his squadron had been shot down, and being the next highest rank from Colonel Ichijo, he assumed command of the squadron and lead the counter attack that eventually disabled the last destroyer. Mustang squadron had managed to arrive from the temporary airstrip near the secondary excavation site in time to help the Zentradi finish off the Shiar battle pods, and now they were assisting the Zentran ground troops with rounding up the Shiar crew on the battleship and the destroyer.  
  
Misa heard Harper's voice on the radio and started to crumble. "Corina, send the recovery teams down there as soon as we can." She said quietly.  
  
"Already on route sir." Corina said. She glanced over at Misa and saw a spaced out, frightened look in her eyes as if she were afraid to blink but afraid to keep her eyes open. "Captain, the situation is all under control here. If... if you want to go down to the planet…"  
  
"That won't be necessary Commander." Misa knew better than to get her hopes up, and to go down to the planet to look for him was to run the risk of coming across his broken remains dangling from a tree somewhere. "Have Lieutenant Harper stay in touch. I'll be in my quarters."  
  
"Aye Captain."  
  
Misa returned that evening to an empty house, with Miko already fast asleep and the sitter was long gone. She was not especially surprised to see that the babysitter had "accidentally" left a notebook of poetry and essays written by some of her classmates on the subject of independence from the UN, and for some reason this made her think of Hikaru. One of the essays sounded like what he had said before the scramble about "history repeating itself", but it didn't seem to relate to what he had been talking about then. In any case, it occurred to her that she probably would not get a chance to ask him.  
  
As Hikaru often did, she climbed out the window of their bedroom and sat down on the little pad he had nailed to the roof. For the rest of the night and well into the following morning, she stared through the transparent hull of the ship at the stars beyond, wondering what, if anything, she would do without him. 


	16. Chapter 15: Musical Meltran

****

Chapter 15: Musical Meltran

--April 29, 2016--

--15:23--

The headline said "Missing in Action" since no body had been recovered. It could have been considered either a good or a bad thing that the ejector seat had separated, but that there was no sign of the pilot. On the other hand, some of the trees in the forest around canyon where the plane was destroyed were over 800 meters tall, and with the incredibly tough foliage in the canopy it would be only too easy to loose a wounded pilot… or body… in the trees. The search went on after the battle, all night and well into he following morning, with forensic investigations going over every inch of the wreckage for evidence that maybe he had been incinerated in the crash. The only sign that he had ever been in the fighter in the first place came when the recovered what was left of the instrument panel, half buried in the rusted soil of the canyon floor, stained with blood. That was at 2 in the morning, and since that time Lieutenant Harper was now the only one left who still believed Colonel Hikaru Ichijo was really "Missing" as apposed to "Hamburger."

Once the Shiar vessels had been secured and their crews interrogated, the ships themselves were towed to the factory satellite to be repaired once the main docks were functioning again. At the same time, the engineering team finally completed the first stage of repairs, and the cloning chambers and production lines became operational again for the first time in over 3000 years. All of this came as little consolation to Misa, who hadn't left her home since the previous day, or Minmei for that matter who had taken a sick day from the restaurant to support her. For the rest of that day, Misa and Minmei stayed up exchanging their favorite "Bumbling Hikaru" stories, and it amazed Minmei that they could share such recollections without fighting about it. Almost every story involved how he had somehow stood one or both of them up in favor of someone or something else, or how he had done something to embarrass them each in a lasting way. Minmei never would have imagined that Misa would have felt comfortable talking about his past relationships, but the fact that they were now BOTH married women definitely opened new doors.

What was most needed was a distraction, and the entire crew knew this. Such a distraction presented itself with the strange behavior of the captured Zentradi aboard the ships. All of them, it seemed, were female and stubbornly refused to speak. They had been micronized and placed in reinforced cells for interrogation, but every one of them had remained totally silent. All except one.

Corina heard the rumor from one of the ops officers, and got details out of the Blake twins on her coffee brake. She passed the word on to Sara, who mentioned it to a friend in the officers club who suggested Minmei might get a kick out of it. She called Minmei at her house to tell her about it, but Minmei was still at Misa's. Richard answered instead, grumpy from lack of sleep, and barked into the phone even before he realized what he was saying. "Who the hell is this?" He said gruffly.

"Who the hell is THIS?" Sara responded with equal harshness.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I... well who is this?"

Sara sounded confused. "I must have the wrong number. I'm looking for Minmei."

"Oh... She's not here right now, and I don't know when she'll be back."

"I gotcha. Do you know where she is?"

"She went to Captain Ichijo's house. Why?"

"Something she might find interesting. The Captain of one of the Zentradi vessels they brought down the other day... well they can't get any information out of her because she, and get this, SINGS too much!"

Richard jumped out of his chair and started looking for his shoes. "A Zentradi singing?!"

"It's crazy isn't it? I mean Zombie Zentradi were a surprise, but they've been living among humans for a few years and they've got alot of..."

Richard tucked the phone under his neck and started to pull his shoes on. "Where are they holding it?"

"The stockade on deck C-45 ."

"C-45... great, I'm taking Minmei over there right now. I wouldn't miss this for the world."

Sara chuckled for a moment, but then made a strange noise into the phone. "By the way, what did you say your name was?"

"Why?"

"Your voice sounds REALLY familiar. I wonder if we've met before."

At the mention of it, Richard became nervous. Her voice also sounded familiar; there was some childish energy to it that he generally identified with only one other person. "Your name wouldn't be Sara, would it?"

"Yeah, that's right. Where have we met bef..."

Richard quickly hung up the phone as if the police were tracing the line. It was unfortunate, he decided, that Minmei happened to be friends with someone like Sara Douglass. Hers was one of the darkest chapters of his life that he was only too happy to forget about. In the mean time, he now rushed out of the house to catch the 3:30 bus to the other end of town where Minmei was waiting with the Captain. He knew for sure that they would BOTH get a kick out of this. 

--15:30--

There was a powerful defold reaction near the factory and 26 ships appeared in front of the Megaroad. The Phoenix was leading the pack, along with its escort of destroyers and pickets and two additional vessels they had picked up along the way. "This is Gunsight Two calling Delta control, returning from mission."

Corina suddenly felt 50 pounds lighter. "Captain Broli, you're almost 4 days behind schedule. What the hell happened out there?"

"I'll explain at length later. We need emergency medical teams sent over here right away."

Corina suddenly became worried again. "Has something happened?"

"We found a UN fleet in the Berren system, obviously sent looking for us. The Supervision Army captured one of the ARMD carriers, and we brought back the other two. The crew has been drained of spiritia."

"Drained of what?"

"No time to explain dammit! Just send the teams over!"

"Acknowledged..." Corina grumbled. "Damn. Now he outranks me just because he's got his own ship..."

Broli apparently heard her complaint and started chuckling. "Don't feel bad Kitten. I'm still YOUR man."

Corina laughed nervously. "Not on open channel Commander." She decided to change the subject. "So how'd it go out there? What was that Shikari person like?"

Broli tried to keep from smiling, and succeeded by feigning anxiety. "If Millia Fallyna was twice my size and a WHOLE lot meaner... well, you get the idea."

Corina whistled in amazement. "I think I do. Will she play ball?"

"Of course not. But she says she'll be watching."

Corina raised a brow. "Watching what?"

"She didn't say." Broli was about to close the channel, but then he remembered something. "Oh Commander, get in touch with the Captain Misa right away. We linked up with a UN scout ship in the Berren System and their captain wants to speak with her."

"I'll tell her, but I don't think she'll be available."

"Why? What's up?"

Corina felt her heart skip a beat. "Well... Hikaru was killed in a Shiar raid two days ago. He was shot down trying to stop them from attacking the city."

On the bridge of the Phoenix, the air quickly turned to soup as the combined despair of 8 crewmen palpitated the room. Ensign Ryder turned around and tried to say something, but then turned back to the front and sulked. "I understand Kitten, thanks for telling me... have they found the body?"

"No. They found his ejector seat in the rubble of his plane. There was no sign of him anywhere."

Broli had a glimmer of hope, but like Misa he knew better than to get his hopes up. "I hear you. Well, if its all the same to you I plan to set this ship down on the planet surface as soon as we've checked the docking seals on ARMD-18 and 19."

"You're landing? Wait a second, I have to consult the Captain..."

"This is my ship Commander. I will set it down on the planet bellow and provide added security. If you need us, we'll take off immediately and return to orbit but not before then."

Corina saw her hopes sinking. She had hoped to have a nice romantic evening alone with Broli after such a long and dangerous mission, but she decided under the circumstances that it could wait. "Have that scout ship dock at the factory satellite and I'll see if we can get a meeting together."

--17:40--

The cell that held the "Musical meltran" was lightly guarded, but it was extremely far from all of the other prisoners. When Misa and company arrived to check it out, there were three people inside trying to interrogate the woman to no avail. The only sound she allowed herself to make was a strange, enchanting melody that sounded like something from an ancient Earth society. They watched them for a few minutes before the interrogators gave up finally and stormed out of the cell in disgust. "It's no use Captain." He said sadly. "She just sings that same damn song over and over..."

"What language is that?" Misa said. "The translators don't seem to pick it up."

"The language is Zentradi, but the translators can't process it because of the tones. They read the whole thing as background noise. That's why we put her in a separate cell, in case she was trying to signal her comrades."

Minmei leaned against the glass and took a look at the woman inside. She was a gorgeous woman with black hair almost as tall as she was, sitting on a bench in her cell staring at the wall as she began her ancient song once again. "What are the words?"

"The dialect is weird. Something about an evil Zentradi and a war, and something to do with stealing spirits or whatever."

Minmei pulled the door open, but Misa and Richard both pushed it shut. "Don't. It's not safe without..."

"Jesus! You're worse than my parents!" Minmei pulled the door open again and stepped inside, followed by a nervous Richard and an anxious Misa. She knelt down in front of the meltran and listened for a few moments to the song, testing the woman for any reaction at all. "You intelligence guys really don't know people very well, least of all singers."

One of the interrogators sighed in defeat, but another was curious. "What makes you say that?"

"She's terrified of us." The woman's eyes darted down to Minmei's for just a moment at the statement before going back to staring at the wall. 

"How can you tell?" Misa said. "She doesn't look very afraid to me."

"This song sounds alot like a Chinese song we used to sing in school. All through the Unification wars, whenever there was an air raid we would go into the shelters and sing the song until it was over. That's where I got most of my practice to be honest."

Richard caught the statement, and as expected did not understand. "Practice with what?"

"Nothing." Minmei stood up and sat down next to the meltran. "She's singing this song because she thinks we're going to do something to her." Again, the woman's eyes shot a glance towards her, this time enough for Misa to understand she was getting a reaction from her.

"It has a beautiful melody though." Misa said.

"It does." 

Minmei sat there for a minute or two, picking up the patterns of the song and charting the melody, and then without warning, started to sing along. Almost as soon as she did, the Zentradi woman leapt up from the bench in surprise, looking at Minmei with a confused and amazed expression. "Kelkasu Mizoon!" 

"Uhhhh...yeah." Minmei said nervously. "What did she just say?"

"I don't know. Turn the translators back on."

One of the intel officers responded, and the Zentradi woman spoke again. "How can you sing?! That's impossible!"

"Why? I used to sing all the time." Minmei said. "Is there a reason we're not supposed to?"

"Then... you don't belong to Lacul?"

"Who?"

The Zentradi woman seemed infinitely relieved, and mumbled something to herself in Zentradi too faintly for the translators to pick up. Misa recognized the tone of the words to be some kind of Zentradi profanity. "Who do you think we are?" She said gently.

"We thought... I mean... we saw the Supervision Army send a fleet to capture this planet WEEKS ago. We know what they're after, and we came to the city to destroy it so Lacul can't get his hands on it. I never thought you could have survived that kind of onslaought..."

"Who's Lacul?" Misa said.

"He's their leader. He's proto-deviln inhabiting a Zentran body."

"Proto-deviln?"

"Long story." She said dismissively. "Lacul wants to recover the lost proto-culture technology here. The reason this colony survived his first reign is because it had many weapons that were very effective against his kind during the last war. If he gets these weapons back, it would be disastrous for all of us."

Misa became nervous and excited at the same time. This meant Gallaron did indeed have something of value for them after all, but it also established them as a possible target of the enemy. "What kind of weapons?"

"Reflex warheads, super dimension weapons, you know the stuff. Alot of the ships here had an ancient defense system... an omni-directional barrier system."

Misa had a flashback to the Ontario Quadrant and Kamjin's attack. "What else?"

"Legend speaks of a weapon on this planet that has the power to destroy entire planets. We don't know how it works, but we know it's here. It's not really a bomb or anything, but it can only be activated once."

Richard huffed. "Only a Zentradi would think of something like that..."

"We didn't. Our creators did." She looked at Richard with an expression of pure hatred, which he returned in kind.

"What was your song about?" Minmei asked finally.

"It's a death song. I thought you wanted to steal my life from me and make me a slave."

Minmei stood up and started to walk out of the cell. "Don't worry. We're not going to steal anything from you except your song."

The woman looked confused. "How can you steal a song? It belongs to no one but the singer, doesn't it?"

Minmei smiled coyly. "You've obviously never heard of copyright laws."

Richard followed her out of the room, leaving Misa to pump the woman for more information. "What can you tell us about the Supervision Army? Our knowledge is limited to what we got from the Karga fleet, but we're still unsure of just what we're up against."

"Let me talk to my people first. I'll tell you everything I know as soon as I can talk to the others."

Misa nodded, and gestured for the guards to release her.

Further down the hall, Richard caught up with Minmei and walked along beside her. "There you go again." He said. "Why do you keep saying things like that?"

Minmei quickly thought up a simple excuse. "Ever wonder why I have so much money saved up?"

"No." He said. "But I do now."

"My cousin and I used to own a record company after the war. And then he..."

"...Spent all your money on booze and picking fights with your friends. I remember you telling me that a long time ago..." Richard was thinking hard again, and Minmei found herself amused by the way his brow furrowed when he got confused. "You never mentioned a record company though."

"Well I got out of it, but my friend Sara still likes to write songs and I think she'd like this one."

Richard suddenly remembered his near disaster with Sara Douglass. "About that. Please don't talk to your friends about us."

This caught Minmei by surprise. She started to wonder if maybe Richard had some secret career he had been keeping from her as well. "Why?"

"You asked me to do the same at work, and I'm asking you to do that with your friends."

Minmei felt a chill. "I already told everyone about you. I brag on you to all my friends at work and everything about my fabulous hubby..."

"Well that's fine, just don't mention it to anyone else, okay?"

"Well, okay." 

Minmei and Richard walked out of the military block of the ship to catch the bus back home. It bothered her that he was being so secretive, but it also occured to her that she too was being secretive and that it might be good to ease him into that aspect of her life. The oportunity presented itself in the form of a billboard on the side of the bus for something Minmei had seen before. "Rich, if I got over my stage-fright, do you think I could've been a singer?"

Richard smiled and led her up the steps into the bus. "Your friend said you've got a pretty voice, and that may be perfectly true..." Richard sat down close to the back of the bus and Minmei sat down next to him. "...but for some reason I just can't picture you on stage."

She almost thought he was joking. "You can't?"

"Not at all. You've got the looks for it but... no, I think that would be too... wierd."

Minmei again tried not to laugh. "What would you say if I did went and auditioned for Galaxy Boulevard Theatre?"

Richard frowned. "I'd be worried, and then I'd be pissed. Half of their so-called actors are Zentradi."

"So?"

"I don't want you getting involved with those people. You support Zentradi, you support murders and that's all there is too it."

Minmei sighed and put her head on his shoulder. "Fine, be that way. But you know, you can't ignore it forever. Like it or not, the Zentradi are part of our society now and you have to get used to them."

Richard smiled at her. "You just don't get it do you? Why can't you understand that there IS evil in the universe, and that it is created by evil people who are only cappable of death and destruction? The Zentradi were CREATED for murder. It's all they know, all they're cappable of, and all they will ever contribute to our existance."

"They WERE created for war, but that's why I trust them."

Richard was speachless for just a moment. "That doesn't make sense."

"They're pure, calculating fighting machines. Most of them have never even SEEN a woman, and barely a handful can even grasp the most basic concepts of our society. I know they won't rape me, because most of them don't know what sex is. I know they won't rob me, because most of them don't know or care about money. All they really know is that we are their friends, and they exist to protect us and themselves from the enemy. It's that clarity of purpose that defines what they are."

"Clarity of purpose?" Richard said sceptically. "They kill people. They don't care who or why just as long as they can cause pain and suffering. You call that clarity of purpose?"

The bus stopped at the corner near their apartment and Minmei stood up. "Corina told me something interesting the other day. The word Zentradi comes from Zjentohlauedy, which means noble slave." They walked half a block in slience before Minmei stopped at the front door to their apartment building. Richard opened the door, but Minmei stopped him to make sure he was listening. "Now the slaves are free, and if we don't help them build a new life for themselves, the Zentradi will end up huddled into ghettos and housing projects that most people make every effort to ignore. They'd become the street trash of the galaxy."

"God willing." Richard said pushing past her into the building. "I wouldn't want one of them moving into MY neighborhood, that's for damn sure."

Minmei growled in frustration and stepped into the apartment building.

--April 30, 2016--

--17:00--

The SDF-Phoenix was in position to begin de-orbiting. The gravity control systems in the two ARMD platforms on the hull now gave the ship the balance control it needed for the ship to perform what Broli had been waiting to try for several weeks. "Attention all hands. This ship will be performing a modular transformation in one minute. All stations report in."

Ensign Ryder was bubbling with excitement. "Commander Broli we're really going to do this?!"

Broli smiled at her like a child running up after an ice cream truck. "Yes Ensign, we're going to do this. Why? You expect I'd lead you on like this and just have a drill?"

Lieutenant Gallow chuckled. "You never served under Captain Misa."

Broli laughed and then the countdown clicked to zero. The forward hull of the main cannon parted and rotated up. The impulse drives and the primary hull rotated down. The two ARMD platforms on the docking arms rotated to the front of the ship. In a matter of seconds, SDF-Phoenix was in its vaguely humanoid fortress mode. For the citizens of Megaroad city watching through the glass panels, it was a sight to behold. "Great work everyone. Gravity control, begin descent. Have splinter squadron prepare for launch in bay..." And then a new thought occurred to him. "Scratch that. Move all fighter squadrons to ARMD-19. We'll use their Lightnings."

Lieutenant Mike smiled. "Good thinking sir. We do have all those planes after all."

"That's right. Anyway, have all sections prepare for re-entry and send out Splinter and Nickel Squadrons with search gear as soon as we pass over the city. I don't like the idea of burying Hikaru in an empty casket."

As the Phoenix descended towards the planet, Claudia watched it maneuver next to Corina from the bridge of the Megaroad-01, and she couldn't help but stare at the ship with a sense of nostalgia. "It looks almost exactly like the Macross. Where'd you all find this thing?"

Corina smiled. "It was a shipwreck in that last system we surveyed. If you've followed our trail all the way from Earth, I assume you've recognized our handiwork."

Claudia chuckled. "You almost destroyed the damn moon! What in the world was under there?!"

"Some kind of factory complex. This area is lousy with Supervision Armies. We're trying to build up our forces as much as we can to defend ourselves."

Claudia nodded in understanding. "Colony missions are alot more dangerous than I would have thought. I guess Hikaru found that out the hard way."

Corina shook her head. "He never got the chance to think about it. Misa's the one who has to live with this now."

Claudia walked over and put her hand on Corina's shoulder. "Listen kid, I can see that you and that Zentradi officer have a good thing together and I'm gonna give you the same advice I gave your captain. Tell him how you feel before it's too late."

"But I do tell him. I tell him all the time..."

"But you're holding back aren't you? Don't lie now, I can tell. You want something more from him than romance."

Corina hung her head. "Maybe...well a family, some kids... but he's Zentradi. He's not ready for something like that! I'd just scare him away if I start talking all serious like that."

"Then you'd better brave him up. In your situation, you might not have forever." Claudia turned towards the back of the room to leave the bridge. "I'm going to stop by your captain's house as soon as I get the chance. Anything you want me to tell her?"

Corina nodded. "There's a few ideas we've been trying to express to her. As soon as you have the time, stop by the officer's club during one of the night shifts and we'll give you..."

Claudia stopped in the middle of the room and turned around slowly. "This isn't about declaring independence is it?"

Corina blushed. "Everyone else is in favor of it, but she is totally against it. She's pretty old fasioned I guess. I don't suppose you could..."

"I'm old fasioned myself, kid. Personally, I think that's the stupidest idea I've ever heard, and if it were my ship we'd be having this discussion in the brig."

Corina sighed. "I'll take that as a no."

"You're damn right that's a no." She turned to leave again, then spun around suddenly. "Commander, you fought in the war right?"

Corina was slightly confused by the question, but tried her best to answer it. "I was an ops officer on ARMD-3."

Claudia stared at her for a moment. "What was the Enterprise's first combat action?"

Corina thought for a moment. "We took out a small division of Regults after the Macross returned to space. I think they wandered into out patrol zone after one of Kamjin's raids."

Something like disgust or embarassment showed in Claudia's expression that made Corina wonder what kind of answer she had expected. "Asside from the battle against Bodolza, did your battlegroup do ANYTHING in the war?"

Corina suddenly felt very embarassed. "Captain, it's not like we went and hid or something. The Zentradi almost totally ignored us..."

"...And only focussed on the Macross. That's what EVERYONE says." Claudia finished, turning to leave the bridge. "Not that it matters. The Zentradi could have destroyed the entire fleet a thouand times over if they wanted to." she paused in the doorway as she considered something. "For that matter, they still can."


	17. Chapter 16: Libretto

****

Chapter 16: Libretto

--May 4, 2016--

--06:55--

Richard woke form his dream from some stimulus he couldn't identify. He felt for sure someone had jostled him, but he wasn't sure who or why. He patted the bed next to him, but Minmei was not there. He craned his head around the dark room to see if she was around, but seeing nothing decided to go back to sleep. Almost as soon as his head hit the pillow again he heard some kind of noise from the bathroom, and decided get up and find her. He arrived at the bedroom door just in time to catch a glimpse of his wife stepping out of the bathroom with a distant, fatigued look in her eye. "Are you okay?" Minmei didn't answer, just leaned against the wall. "Are you okay?" He said again, his voice carrying more concern.

"I puked." she said quietly. "I think that fish was undercooked last night."

Richard nodded. "Fresh salmon my ass. It was still moving when they served it to us."

Minmei turned and went back into the bathroom, grabbing her toothbrush and a bottle of mouthwash to rinse the awful taste from her mouth. "I might be getting home late tonight."

"No problem." Richard said. "I heard the boss brought in a new manager at the firm. He thinks the guy has potential."

Minmei gargled and spit. "You do too. I've seen the stuff you do for fun. How come your add ideas aren't that good?"

"I don't know." Richard come up behind her and put his hands on her hips. "Seriously, I can't tell you how much I hate that job. Sure, they pay me a small fortune but I don't have anywhere NEAR as much freedom as I would prefer."

"Then quit." Minmei said plainly. "I have a job, I make money, and I have enough saved to support us until you make it big..."

"But I wouldn't be able to shower you with gifts and take you to fancy dinners..."

"I'd rather see you happy." Minmei turned around and kissed him. "You've been so miserable lately. If you don't cheer up, we'll have some pretty depressing kids."

Richard grinned, putting his arms around her affectionately. "Why does everything have a silver lining with you?"

"What the hell does that mean?" She said giggling.

"Everything is just fine with you. It's like you're incapable of worrying about things. If I quit my job right now and we were flat broke, you'd still be the same ditzy optimist...!"

"I'm not ditzy!" Minmei complained, slapping him on the shoulder. "And what's wrong with being an optimist? You should try it some time."

She started to push past him to go leave the bathroom, but his hands pressed her back and pinned her hips to the sink. "If I lost my job, and we didn't have any money to live on, you'd still want to have a baby wouldn't you?"

"If you lost your job, we would live on MY money. What are you so worried about."

Something in Richard's smile made her very uncomfortable. For the first time since she'd met him, she felt small and useless. He was smiling at her as he would a small child who was trying too hard to relate to matters she could not understand. "I wish the world was as simple as you make it sound, Mei. Unfortunately, things are never that simple. If I quit that job now, there's no way you could bring in enough to support a family."

Minmei squirmed free of his grasp and headed off to the bedroom. "Rich, you're depressed because you don't get to do what you love to do, and believe me, I know how that feels. I want you to do whatever it takes to express yourself, even if it does mean quitting your job, and then you can sell your paintings and we'll live off them."

"You really think we can support a baby on just my artwork?" Richard followed her in the bedroom, seriously considering her suggestion for the first time.

"What am I, transparent? Do I not have a job?"

Richard nodded. "Well I guess..." Minmei laid out her clothes on the desk across from the bed, and Richard made his way to the closet to do the same. As he moved next to her, he noticed the change in her movements, a shift in her usual grace that made everything she was dong seem that much more deliberate. "Are you sure you're okay? You're not getting sick or anything, are you?"

"No." Minmei said, getting dressed for work. The reality was she wasn't really sure of her physical condition. It had started right after the honeymoon on Gallaron, and seemed to escalate after that. She tried to ignore it, pass it off as symptoms of prolonged exposure to high gravity, but she had decided two days earlier that she needed to consult a doctor immediately, and find out for sure just why she had skipped her period.

--10:10--

"There it is again!" Harper shouted over the com. "Anybody else hear that? It's on my audio pickup at a range of about... 200 meters due east."

"I hear it." Broli said from his fighter. "That's weird. Sounds like music. Are there any hikers or something around here?"

"No, this area's off limits to all visitors."

Broli turned towards the source of the sound and walked towards it nervously. He wasn't sure if there was anything left alive on this planet that might possess intelligence. He walked through the trees in the thick forest, some of them average earth sized, others towering hundreds of meters above his head. Some of the larger trees had with limbs as hard as steel, and he had to take several detours before coming to a clearing in the great forest. He could see humanoid figures dancing around a column of light that reached up for 500 meters before fading to nothing, and as he approached it they scattered in all directions with impressive speed. Whoever or whatever they were, they were extremely quick and agile, and he could not even follow their movements. His more immediate concern was the light in the middle of the field that was fading quickly as he drew near. By the time he arrived at the spot, the light was gone altogether, but waiting before him was a new wonder he could not begin to comprehend. Standing a full 15 meters high was a grinning pilot in the tattered remains of Zentradi uniform. "Fancy seeing you here." He said plainly.

"Colonel Ichijo!" Broli said in amazement. "What the hell is this?! You're... I mean you're...!"

"Macronized. I know. These weird little guys used some kind of modified proto-culture cloning chamber. I guess they figured they could heal me faster if they increased my size."

Broli looked around at the tree line and saw several timid figures peaking at him through the bushes. "Who are they?" He said nervously. "And why haven't you called in yet?"

"I think they're the descendents of the original colonists of this planet, even though they only speak Zentradi. And I didn't call in because their transmitter's busted."

Broli nodded in understanding. "What was that light minute ago?"

Hikaru shrugged. "I don't have a clue. Some weird ritual they perform every once in a while. They call it... uhhhh... thun-utomisu."

"Light dancing?" Broli said. "That doesn't make sense."

"But it's a pretty accurate description. Anyway, let's get going quickly. I want to get myself micronized right away."

Broli laughed. "What's the matter? Zentradi size too much for you?"

"No, it's just... well in case you haven't noticed, Gallaron has alot more gravity than Earth does. Even at my smaller size I weigh almost 300 pounds here, and it doesn't help that this armor literally weighs a ton!"

Broli laughed again. "We'll just walk back to the ship. A little exercise never killed anyone. And besides, this will give your wife some time to peel herself off the ceiling."

Hikaru started walking, but looked at Broli with a worried expression. "Is she okay?"

"Hell no! She hasn't left your house since you got hit! Except to check out that one meltran, but sill..."

"Yeah, I got it. I better go apologize before she divorces me. But first, I need to get shrunk down to a comfortable groveling size."

--10:42--

Misa heard the knock on the door from the bedroom and heaved herself off the bed to answer it. Of all people in all the universe, the LAST person she had expected to see was Claudia LaSalle. "Hey old miss. How's the family?"

"Claudia! What are you doing here?! Last I heard you were on Earth with the new ship..."

"The Maizuru class. It's a tight little ship if you ask me, I was impressed. Actually, I came looking for you. You haven't reported in so long, the brass thinks you've all been destroyed."

"Oh, not all of us, just my stupid husband." Misa grabbed her friend and pulled her inside.

"I heard about Hikaru. I'm so sorry."

Misa nodded. "It's okay. I accepted a long time ago that it might end like this."

"Don't you two have a child?"

"A three year old on a reflex furnace. She's the most energetic life form in the universe, and pretty feisty to boot."

Claudia looked out the window where a small face was appearing and disappearing in the window as the child jumped up and down trying to look into the house. "Yeah, I can see that already."

"Oh not again!" Misa ran to the door and opened it, and Miko scampered around to the front of the house and came in. "Miko, I told you don't go outside without somebody watching you!"

"But I'm waiting for daddy to come home."

"I know, I know. Go wait upstairs, okay?"

"Kay."

Misa waited for the girl to run/fly up the stairs into her room before sitting on the couch again next to Claudia.

"She looks like mini-you!" She said laughing.

Misa shrugged shyly. "There certainly doesn't seem to be much Hikaru in her, on the other hand she's as graceful as a stampeding bull."

Claudia laughed, and then took a breath and changed to a serious subject. "So you haven't told her yet?"

"Told her what? Until they find the body, he's still M.I.A."

"Misa, have you considered the possibility that he just MIGHT be dead?"

"Every minute. But you can't have a funeral without a body." Misa poured a cup of coffee from the pot on the table and handed it to Claudia. "Anyway, did you come here just to cheer me up?"

"No. I came here to give you the bad news. A patrol fleet under Admiral Sam Bennet was attacked a few days ago by the Supervision Army. They got away with his command ship."

Misa ran her finger through her hair. "That's bad news."

"It gets worse. They were carrying a full payload of reflex missiles. The Supervision Army has them, which means they can probably make more."

Misa's face turned white. "Claudia, they have THOUSANDS of ships! Reflex weaponry is the ONLY advantage we have over them!"

Claudia seemed equally bothered by this. "I know. And now that they have them this leaves you very few options doesn't it? We can't just cut our losses and pull out because they still have the weapons and the problem remains. But to stay here, surrounded by an enemy that outnumbers you so greatly... Misa it's suicide to stay here."

"Can you contact Chief Gloval and ask for support..."

"In a few weeks, Chief Gloval is going to be elected as Chairman of the UN Government. I can get a hell of alot more than just support. But the question is, should I?"

"What does that mean?"

"Misa, you're an Admiral's daughter. You're a stickler for tradition and a damn fine soldier, but the human race has NEVER been in a situation like this before. In the scheme of things, we're just a little tribe of pigmies that got our hands on some advanced weapons and fought out way out of our corner of the galaxy. These are times that call for new approaches to things."

"Like what?"

Claudia didn't have details. Broli and some of the others had mentioned it to her on the way back, but she hadn't understood much of it then and she understood it even less now. Even so, she tried to go with what she knew. "You'll have your best shot if you try and unite the other Zentradi fleets around here. And your enemy has reflex warheads, so you'll also need to develop new tactics. UN Spacey can only lend so much support."

"How much? I know you're a little tied up with the colony missions but..."

"At this point, your military strength is already on better than equal terms with the ours. You stand to gain alot more by relying on the Zentradi forces in this sector."

Misa knew she was going to say it even before she did. The UN space fleet defending earth only had a hundred and ten ships and a couple hundred thousand fighters. Gallaron already had over four times that number, but the fact that their fleet was damaged evened the books for now. Soon, however, the Zentradi would be fully operational and all that would change. "Don't tell me we should declare independence..."

"Of course not. It wouldn't make any difference anyway. We can't help you any more than you can help yourselves. But Admiral Bennet's capture leaves us in a sticky situation. I'm almost afraid to..." The phone rang and Misa walked over to pick it up. She listened to the receiver for a moment, then slowly hung up the phone and turned back to face Claudia. "Who was that?" She said, half turning on the couch to look at her. She saw Misa string at her, jaw hanging open and eyes wide in amazement as if she was staring at God. "Misa? Are you okay?"

Misa was about to say something, then her body stiffened up and she tipped forward and passed out on the floor with a thud.

--May 4, 2016--

--13:20--

The auditions were a complete nightmare. In the third row of the now empty theatre, the director was rubbing his temples once again in frustration. He remembered back on Earth when there would be lines of talented actors and actresses around the block for such a performance, and finding the right one was actually a difficult decision. Now, it seemed, all the talented stars who had not been killed in the Rain of Death had opted to remain on Earth, and he found himself close to breaking down on his knees and begging god to forgive him for whatever sin he had committed to deserve this torture. "I can't take much more of this!" He groaned. "The last 6 were tone deaf, and three of them couldn't read. And for god's sake, how many different ways are there to pronounce "Murgatroyd?!" Boss, are you trying to tell me there is no one better on this whole damn ship than what we've been getting?"

The producer eyeballed the loud mouth director with a sense of scorn, only to hang his head in defeat an instant later as he realized he was right. "Megaroad Studios took all the bright spots. We'd be lucky just to get their extras." He sighed and looked at the next name. "Okay, next up is miss... uhhhh... miss Ling Powel."

At the call of her new alias, the new girl stepped on stage. She had long pink hair about waist length, thick framed glasses and a perky smile that lifted the producer's sprits almost immediately. He was satisfied that with a haircut, contact lenses and a makeover, she would be perfect for the part. "Hi. My name is Ling Powel. I'm trying out for the part of Mad Margaret." she said, shyly drilling her big toe into the stage.

"Miss Powel..." the director found himself staring at her. "Have you auditioned here before? You look REALLY familiar."

"Yeah. I came here last year for that part in the H.M.S. Pinnafore, and you told me if I took singing lessons and changed my hair color, MAYBE I could come back in a year and lick your ass."

The director thought about it for a moment. "Well that definitely SOUNDS like me, but I don't remember seeing a kid with pink hair. Are you Zentradi?"

"Well no, but I had blonde hair when I came last time."

The Director seemed to remember something, and nodded. "Okay kid. Read you lines."

A blonde woman walked on stage with a clipboard and handed it to the new girl. She gave her 15 seconds to read over it before beginning the scene with her own lines. "A maiden, and in tears? Can I do aught to soften thy sorrow? This apple..." she handed the new girl an imaginary apple.

The girl looked at it for a moment, then threw it to the ground like a piece of trash she'd found somewhere. "No!" she said, greatly annoyed. "Tell me, are you mad?"

"I? No! That is, I think not."

"That's well! Then you don't love Sir Despard Murgatroyd? All mad girls love him. I love him. I'm poor Mad Margaret...Crazy Meg...Poor Peg!" She chuckled giddily.

The Director leaned over to his producer with a 10 mile grin. "Boss, this girl's incredible! She's not only better than the other garbage, she's the best I've ever SEEN! And she even said Murgatroyd!"

The producer leaned back with a worried expression. "Don't jinx it you fool!"

"Thou lovest the bad Baronet of Ruddigore? Oh, horrible...too horrible!" Said the blonde woman, glancing at her cues again.

The new girl looked at her questionably. "You pity me? Then be my mother! The squirrel had a mother, but she drank and the squirrel fled! Hush! They sing a brave song in our parts...it runs somewhat thus..." She turned towards the 5 grumpy men sitting in the audience and launched into her song. "The cat and the dog and the little puppee sat down in a...down in a...in a...." she paused for a moment to think about it. "I forget what they sat down in, but so the song goes! Listen... I've come to pinch her!"

"Mercy, whom?" Said the blonde woman.

"You mean 'who'." The new girl corrected.

"Nay! it is the accusative after the verb."

"True..." She grumbled, quietly enough to be dramatic but somehow managing still project her voice across the entire theatre.

The director felt his heart thumping in his chest. Not only did she have the most beautiful voice he had ever heard, she even managed to do the song in such a manner that she might be thought of as forgetting the words instead of simply stuttering. She did everything almost TOO perfectly; he knew for sure, THIS girl knew how to act. And to think, of all places she could go she choose HIS studio... Moved by his sudden change of fortune, the director leapt out of his chair and sprinted across the stage. 

"I have come to pinch Rose Maybud..." she was interrupted in the middle of her lines when the director dashed up to her and hugged her.

"Thank you! Thank you Miss Powel! Thank you, thank you thank you!" he said, almost in tears.

Minmei was barely able to keep her wig from falling off. "Uhhhh... thanks... I guess."

"When can you start?! PLEASE tell me you don't have a contract!"

"Well, I... ummm... no."

The Director released his grip on her and turned to his producer. "Hey Boss, we found Mad Margaret!"

The producer was taking giant panicked breaths of air. "Thank GOD! We're already a week behind schedule, so let's start rehearsals."

Minmei took a step back. "Rehearsals?! NOW?!"

"Why not? You don't have a contract or anything right? Are you in any unions?"

"No but, well..."

"Then what's the problem? So you'll be home a couple hours later than usual. What's the big deal?"

Minmei looked at her watch. She would still get home at the same time as usual, and she feared that if she turned them down now she would never get the part. "Oh, alright. Just give me a few minutes to read the script. It's been YEARS since I did a Gilbert and Sullivan."

"Sure! No problem! Take as along as you need!"

--17:30--

The shuttle from the Phoenix touched down in the hangar of the Megaroad and discharged it's lone passenger. Hikaru felt light as a feather now that he was back to his normal size, and he felt alive again at the thought of seeing his wife and daughter again. He had spent almost a week in the company of strangers, caring for him and helping him for reasons he was sure he would never understand, but people who refused to make any effort to communicate with anyone directly. Sooner or later, he knew they would have to meet with these people and learn to understand them as neighbors on their new planet, but for now his only concern was his family.

This concern took him by complete surprise when, stepping off the shuttle, something crashed into his stomach, knocking him off his feet and leaving him gasping for breath. He wasn't too surprised to look up and see Miko sitting on his chest laughing and chanting. "Daddy's home! Daddy's home!" over and over.

Hikaru grabbed the hyperactive little creature and lifted himself up to his feet to carry her under his arm like a suitcase. "Geez kid! I've met rotwielers less excitable!"

He glanced up then and saw Misa standing across the landing bay with tears in her eyes. Even carrying Miko under his arm, it only took him a moment to appear next to her. "Are you okay?"

"Are YOU?" she said. "You remember all of us, right?"

Hikaru laughed. "Oh, C'mon! I've only been gone a week!"

"But... but you didn't..."

"Look Misa," Hikaru set Miko down, who immediately clung inseparably to his leg. "There are people still living down there. I don't know why a bio-scan didn't detect them, but they ARE there. They live in the trees."

Misa wasn't sure if he was serious, joking, or just plain hallucinating, but this did peak her curiosity. "They live in the trees?"

"Those 800 meter redwoods all over the forest? There are THOUSANDS of them living there. They cut hollows into the trees close to the tops where the sap is still warm. And they're INCREDIBLY nimble. The whole time I was there I didn't see any stairs or ladders. They just kinda... climb."

Misa swatted Miko off Hikaru's leg and they started to walk back to the house. "What do they look like?"

"They look vaguely Zentradi, only alot smaller. The biggest one I met was about my height but REALLY skinny. The others are just like us only shorter. Might have something to do with the gravity."

Misa nodded in understanding. "And that's where you've been? Living with these natives?"

"They were healing me for some reason. I would have called you when I was feeling better, but their only transmitter was 50 meters up and I wasn't about to tempt fate."

Misa's images of the primitive, nimble tree dwellers quickly vanished. "Transmitter?"

"They have a hyperspace transmitter that they almost never use. The terminal was close to the cloning chamber, but it was damaged."

Misa tried to picture a technological civilization living in hollow trees, but it just didn't seem to fit in anything other than one of Miko's Saturday morning cartoons. "That's...odd." Miko was tugging at Hikaru's shirt, and he picked her up on carried her on his back.

"But this is the part I thought you'd be interested in. They have weapons. LOTS of them, and really nice ones too. And I'm not talking ordinary fire arms or little slug throwers, they've got handheld laser weapons that could burn through steel, anti tank guns with shells the size of my head, I saw one of them using some kind of laser beam to kill animals for food.

"Interesting."

"And they've some pretty heavy artillery too. Stuff like reflex warheads, surface-to-air missile launchers, small scale dimensional cannons, ground to space laser cannons... hell they could knock us all out of orbit if they had power. The only problem is their reflex furnaces haven't worked for hundreds of years and they don't have any fuel to start em up."

Misa realized now that this was a VERY good thing to know, assuming any of it was really true. "How did they power your cloning chamber?"

Hikaru stopped for a moment and gathered his words. "They have a ritual called "Light Dancing." I've never seen anything like it. It's like...hell, I can't really even describe it. It's like the auroras in the north pole on Earth, only they... they like... swim in it!"

Misa was growing more and more convinced that her husband had taken a few hits off the native's peace pipe. "Well what about it?"

"Well... I'll have Broli play the tape for you and magnify the image. There's a song that goes with it, and they use it to power most of their machines. They can put out alot of energy when they need to, but it carries some special meaning for them and they don't seem to want to use it for weapons. But still, I could be wrong. My translator was busted and my Zentradi is piss-poor."

Misa wondered if Broli would describe it in any similar way, but one more question burned in her mind. "Hikaru, do you think they're... do you think they're the ones that created the Zentradi? And us?"

"Do I think they're proto-culture?" He said. Misa nodded, and Hikaru looked her dead in the eye. "I'd bet my life on it." 

--20:33--

She came home almost two hours later than expected, but as usual dropped into her husband's waiting arms with a joyous heart. "Hi Rich." She sang.

"Hi Mei." He said. "How come you're home so late?"

"Oh you know how it is. Too much to do, too little time. I can't wait until they let us move to the planet. 10 extra hours sounds really nice..."

Richard pointed to the T.V. "Check out the news Mei. Not sure if it's good or bad, but..." He, lifted her up to see the TV where a report was being played.

The anchorman was reading his cues in his normal impassionate monotone "...and a more detailed scan did in fact confirm the existence of humanoid life forms on the planet surface numbering in the hundreds of millions across the surface. Their exact location has not been disclosed by the UN Spacey, but Captain Ichijo has made it clear that they are NOT hostile to humans or Zentradi, and that they generally inhabit the larger species of trees found in Gallaron's many forest regions..."

"The TREES?!" Minmei gasped. "Oh my god! Rich, you think they... saw us..."

"Yeah, I think they were watching us making love on the hill." He said laughing. "Guess the squirrels weren't the only ones gettin a good show." 

"This isn't funny Rich! What if..." Minmei was silenced when she saw a Hikaru's picture on the news.

"A statement issued by Colonel Hikaru Ichijo this afternoon suggests that the inhabitants DO possess advanced technology, but that much of their equipment is in disrepair and without power. He believes that the inhabitants, who aided his recovery over the past week, did so as a gesture of good faith, and has stated his intention to open direct communications with them in the near future..."

"Hikaru's alive!" She yelled. "Oh thank GOD!"

Richard chuckled. "Guess your flyboy pulled through after all, huh?"

Minmei smiled at him. "Oh Rich, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were jealous!"

Richard reached around behind her and tugged playfully and her pants. "Of course I'm not jealous! He doesn't have what I've got!"

"Oh really? And just what HAVE you got Mr. Powel?" She laid him flat on the couch and leaned down to kiss him, but when she got close she stopped, smelled something unexpected, and suddenly her smile vanished. "You've been drinking!"

Richard chuckled. "And?" He leaned up to kiss her again, but she pulled away from him. "Oh, what's the matter with you now?"

"This is the third time I've come home to a drunken husband." Minmei stood up from the couch. "What's wrong this time? Bad day at work?" She said, heading for the refrigerator.

"Remember that new manager I told you about?" Richard grumbled. "It's a Zentradi."

"Oh?" Minmei checked the fridge to confirm her suspicions. Sure enough, they were now short half a bottle of wine. She wasn't sure how long he had been at it, but the fact that the wine was back in the fridge was a good sign. At least he was starting to come down a bit. "Why is that a problem?"

"It's not really a problem, but it gets a higher salary for the same amount of work."

Minmei started up the coffee pot. "Well, maybe he's good?"

"A Zentradi? Please! It probably sits there thinking of slitting women's throats and strafing small children for inspiration."

"I keep telling you to lighten up. Besides, what's the problem? If you don't like him, you should just work harder and become the boss so you can fire him..."

"That's my problem. It got promoted today for some new add idea that hooks alot of Zentradi customers. It makes THREE TIMES what I do now, AND I now have to sit there and do what it tells me. I swear, this the biggest load of bullshit in recorded history, a Zentradi telling a real human how to run a business!"

Minmei groaned and returned to the couch with a cup of coffee. "The Zentradi have an excuse to be violent and destructive, it's all they know. You DON'T have an excuse, you're just hateful." 

She handed him the cup, and he took a sip of it, then grimaced. "I can tell you've been practicing, but your java still needs work."

Minmei laughed. "Oh, you're drunk. You wouldn't know good coffee form horse piss."

"Hey, I'm not THAT drunk..." He said, taking another sip. 


	18. Chapter 17: Mobilization

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Chapter 17: Mobilization

--May 9, 2016--

--04:30--

The sky was almost full of light. In the space all around him there were explosions on top of explosions as beams from both fleets criss-crossed between and through the ships. Both fleets were mode up of warships exactly like the ones used by the Supervision Army, but the ones closest to him all had a strange mark on their hull; a four point star in a blue circle on top of a black and yellow bar. 

There were thousands of ships lined up, exchanging punches with energy weapons large and small, and there were millions of variable fighters and strange powered armors swarming about every which way to engage the enemy fighter pods. For some reason, his focus centered on a super dimension fortress near the front of the formation marked SDF-09. Though transformed for battle, it was already badly damaged and half of its weapon systems were out of action, but it still pushed on through the enemy fire as if it were invincible. It was apparent to him that this ship was moving towards some very specific objective for some reason he could not understand, but a dozen other ships were following and soon hundreds more followed them. Whoever was on that ship was certainly someone who inspired them to bravery he decided, considering the madness of the battle all around him. Even as he watched, 10 ships took hits and broke apart as they advanced towards their target, but the lead ship still pushed on, even as beams and missiles ripped larger and larger pieces out of her hull.

He moved towards this ship, drawn in by some force he knew not what, and passed through the clear dome around the bridge and control room to set his feet in the deck just in front of the rear door. There were flames all around the bridge, and the rear walls were stained with the blood of two dead officers on the floor, one of them headless, the other missing a leg and an arm. The captain of the ship lay dead in her chair with a piece of shrapnel protruding from her skull, but someone else was in charge and had been apparently for quite some time. The floor rocked violently as still more enemy fire pelted the ship form all sides, but he could see from the display on the holo-screen in front of the bridge that they were nearing their objective. And then he noticed two officers standing in front of the bridge, one of them barking orders into the radio while the other frantically attempted to keep the ship's offensive systems operating. The woman at the first officer's station had tied her hair on one long braid she draped over her right shoulder. She had a commanding presence that seemed to demand attention from anyone in the sound of her voice, but the voice itself was gentle and redeeming, as if she spat orders and obscenities to her crew and added "pretty please" after every sentence. 

For an instant he thought it was Misa, but her hair was black and much longer. When he stepped through the flames and came up behind her, he noticed an Ensign's rank pins on the tattered and bloodied shoulders of her uniform. He decided if it was not Misa or Corina, then surely it must be Miko 16 years from now... but for some reason that didn't seem right either. He pondered over this question for a moment or two before he ultimately gave up on guessing and started walking around in front of her to see her face. But even as he made that first step, the large holo-screen in the front of the room began flashing as the ship reached its destination, and the woman at the first officer's station took a deep breath, cleared her throat, and started to sing a Shiar death song. He knew immediately who it was, but before the name could leave his tongue a blinding beam of light from the main cannon of some kind of gunboat... several gunboats to be sure... appeared in front of them and smashed into the ship...

"Minmei!" Hikaru woke in a cold sweat, heart pounding, chest heaving as if he had just run a 2-minute-mile. He rubbed his forehead to shake the dream from his mind, but the memory was permanently burned into his thoughts. The image that stood out the most was Minmei, standing on the bridge of a warship in a tattered and scorched uniform, bleeding from a dozen different wounds as thousands of people died around her. He would have to log this one down in the strangest dream he'd ever had since that nightmare where Misa and Millia were wrestling him in a steel cage.

"What's wrong?" Misa asked, sitting up next to him. "Bad dreams?"

Hikaru glanced out the window at the holographic skyline outside the window where the sun was only minutes away from rising on Megaroad City. "They say a dream before dawn always comes true..." He said vaguely.

"You had a nightmare about Minmei?"

Hikaru shook his head. "Misa, how many of us would have to by the farm before somebody like Minmei had to resort to violence?"

"It sure sounds like a strange dream. But I'd think that we would ALL have to go down first, if then."

"Then there's something else... something we don't know yet that's about to change..."

Misa looked at him, but his eyes had a cold, distant look in them, as if he had just come back from hell. "What's happening to you Hikaru?"

Hikaru ignored the question and stood up to head for the kitchen for a drink. "Everything is changing, Misa. I don't like this one bit..."

--07:20--

The Phoenix defolded at its designated coordinates battle transformed and totally alone. Broli knew that Britai had probably been right about the fortress being booby-trapped, which meant it would probably fire on just about any Zentradi ship that tried to approach it. But the Phoenix was no Zentradi ship, and Broli was confident that they would not trigger any type of defense mechanisms until they were close enough to disable them all.

When his ship approached the space wreck known as Alien Starship-2, it matched the data provided from Britai's battleship exactly. The ship hadn't moved since Misa's mission to capture the factory satellite 5 years ago, and now that they were closing in on it Broli was finally able to get a good look at the mysterious vessel. Both of it's impulse drives were missing, as were most of the weapon systems along the hull. What was interesting, however, was that there were two, triangular projections sticking out of the side of the ship that could easily have been the ship's "hands" in transformed mode. The ship appeared to have been some alternate variant of the standard Supervision Army gunboat, perhaps built expressly for cannon use or maybe it was originally built for a booby-trap, nobody could say for sure.

Broli moved his ship alongside ASS-2 and immediately started to deploy boarding parties. Hundreds of space suited figures pushed off the side of the ship into the ancient space wreck to secure its defense systems, just as Broli and Hikaru's squadrons had done so with the Phoenix only a few months before. Broli watched the engineers board the ship in droves, then walked over between Mike and Amelia at the front of the bridge. "This ship will need alot more work than the Phoenix. I don't think she'll be operational any time soon."

Amelia shrugged. "Before we left, Captain Misa told me there were lots of ships on the surface we could salvage. I think they'll be easier to repair if we can get them all to the factory satellite."

Broli nodded. "She said she didn't want to give them any numbers until she knew which ones were salvageable. But I think we can bring this old hull back to life with alittle work."

Mike looked at the radar plot and nodded. "Aside from the missing impulse drives, she's in relatively good shape, especially compared to how the Macross was when we found it on earth. Let's mark this one as SDF-03."

Amelia made a note of it. "I guess the one they're digging up by the city would be SDF-04, and those two on the second moon would be SDF-05 and 06. Once again, this leaves us pretty short on captains."

Broli smiled at her. "You want the job do you?"

Amelia chuckled, but Mike turned around suddenly. "Damn right I want the job! I've been dreaming of commanding a ship like this ever since the Macross took off!"

Broli grinned. "You need alot more experience Mike, but I'll put in a good word for you as soon as I feel you're ready."

Lieutenant Gallow nodded in satisfaction. "I appreciate that sir."

Broli looked again out the window of the bridge at the space wreck in front of them and started to grow anxious. "Amelia, have the fighter units start attaching fold boosters to the hull of the ship. I want to get underway as soon as the system is secured."

"Yes sir." She said, passing out the orders.

--10:35--

General Karga met Captain Gouraz and Misa Ichijo in the control room of the factory satellite to unveil the latest products of their work. Claudia was there as well, and one of her officers was taking notes for the record. "Ladies and Gentlemen, behold the fruits of proto-culture." He said dramatically, gesturing over the balcony at the enormous spread of internal dry docks within the chamber. There were dozens of ships inside, and Misa knew this was just the tip of the iceberg. Every ship in their fleet had been repaired and modified as well, just as these ships had. "The new refits to our ships are now complete. All of our warships are built to carry a micronian crew. The pilots are training as we speak on the new Lightning fighters and finding them not too different from our old Regults. And I must admit, reducing the size of the crew... literally... has more then quadrupled the efficiency of our warships. We can carry more ammunition and equipment with all the space saved from food storage."

Misa looked over at the towering General Karga and laughed. "You don't have to micronize your entire army! Just enough of them to fly some of the Valkyries..."

"It wasn't my decision. They seem to like your planes alot more than their Regults. They can carry more weapons, more fuel, and it's a hell of a lot safer than a battle pod or powered armor. They seem to appreciate the concept that you can be shot down and still survive to fight again."

The thought had never occurred to Misa, but she understood. "What about the powered armors we've been building next to the fighters? Who'll pilot those?"

"That's one thing I wanted to ask you about. It seems most of our powered armors are alot more powerful and more versatile than your destroids, except maybe the Destroid Monsters."

"I know." Misa said regretfully. "What's your question?"

"We think it might be wise to replace the destroids altogether with powered armors."

At the risk of stepping out of line, Claudia raised her own voice. "What would you do with the destroid pilots?"

"Macronize them of course. Powered armors are fairly simple to operate."

Claudia raised a brow. "Even if that was possible, I don't really think they'd go for that..."

Misa gave it a few moment's thought. "Maybe they would. Hikaru didn't mind that much, he just thought it was kinda weird. And anyway, the Destroid pilots are mostly marines and former tank drivers, so I really think they might actually enjoy it." She glanced over at Hikaru, who was trying to look inconspicuous in the corner.

"Then we'll try that for a few weeks. I'll write up a training program first thing tomorrow." Said Karga, gesturing for Dr. Varcus to make a note of it.

Misa looked at the charts projected on the monitor in front of them again. "So how will we organize the fleet General? With these ships repaired and the old hulls that we finally completed in the main yards, we have... 457 total."

Captain Gouraz answered for him. "Divide it evenly. 200 ships directly under General Karga. 200 ships under your command."

Misa shook her head. "These are Zentradi vessels, Captain. They need a leader who understands them. I'll place you in charge of the second fleet and I'll take whatever's left on the planet surface as a permanent defense force. We'll use them to settle this mess with the destroid pilots." Misa was about to change to another subject when an idea struck her. "You know, the Phoenix is expected back with that new ship any minute now, and our engineers are working on digging up the old protoculture ships. Do you think you could find any use for them?"

Karga thought about it. "They're all pretty durable ships, speaking from experience anyway, and they can generate alot of firepower for ships their size. Perhaps we should take some of our leftover warships and form patrol units around the protoculture ships?"

Hikaru came forward now with a very faint grin on his face. "That sounds like a plan, but we don't have crews for them. There's no way we could clone enough Zentradi in time to man the new ships."

Misa thought about their alternatives for a moment before she recognized the nature of Hikaru's smirk. "What's your plan?"

"Gouraz, how many people are on that planet right now?"

Captain Gouraz looked at Varcus, who called up the number from memory. "Our last sweep picked up just over 10 million across the northern continent alone. And you were right, they all stay close to the treetops for warmth."

Hikaru grinned wider. "They all speak Zentradi. I really don't think it'll be too hard to cut a deal with them."

"I wouldn't think so." Varcus agreed. "But they'll need lots of training, especially now that Lacul has his own reflex weapons."

"He what?! When did that happen?"

Misa realized Hikaru had been away when the news first reached them. "Never mind. I'll fill you in on the details later." She turned to General Karga and Captain Gouraz. "You'd better get your ships out there and set up a defense line."

"Right away. We'll start patrols of the surrounding area at once. Most of my ships were refit on the outside ports, so we'll deploy first." Said Gouraz.

Karga smiled. "We'll join you in a day or so. The Battleship Golgrono just completed repairs, and I'd like to give him a shakedown cruise before we go into battle."

"Take all the time you need General, just not too much that you don't." Gouraz said with a grin. "And by the way Captain Misa, Dr. Varcus wanted me to mention that he's been working on an upgrade to the cloning chambers. After all, the technology has remained unchanged for hundreds of millennia, so he thinks it's LONG overdue."

"What kind of upgrade?"

"Mostly to speed up the process. Leaves more time for education and training, and it greatly reduces the time needed for the micronization process."

Hikaru found this much more interesting than Misa. "Tell him I'm first in line if he ever needs a guinea-pig."

Misa looked at him strangely. "You?"

"Yeah. I kinda got used to being a giant, even though those little guys in the trees didn't appreciate it much. It's quite a headrush to be so much bigger than everybody else."

Misa laughed. "Fine then. Anyway, as long as we're mobilizing the fleet again, we might as well start moving the colonists down to the planet surface."

"Good idea." Hikaru said plainly. "In the mean time, you need to fill me in about the whole missile situation."

--22:10--

Minmei came home that night exhausted and horse from the rehearsals. Bed had never sounded so good, just the thought of it made her sleepy. All she could think about now was going to sleep, and everything else would just have to wait until morning. But she had been unprepared for the scene in her apartment when she entered. Richard was lying on the couch in a filthy shirt, staring blankly at the TV in the corner. He'd been drinking, as was obvious by the pile of beer cans on the floor next to him. "I'm home." She said tiredly, making her way to their bedroom.

"Where were you all this time? I know you don't work nights."

"I told you, I picked up a night job because the Chinese restaurant is having trouble. They had to cut my pay."

Richard rolled off the couch and staggered up to her. He wreaked of cheep booze. "That's bullshit. You make three times as much as I do and you don't even go to work every day. I've seen you skip out of the restaurant to go off somewhere, and you always come back tired."

"Well, Fei Chan is really flexible..."

"You'd be the one to know now, wouldn't you? Or is it that paper boy who comes by here every morning? I could have sworn I caught you lookin at him funny..."

The paper boy in question was a 17 year old with freckles and coke-bottle glasses that had recently acquired a personally autographed Minmei CD case. At this point, she glanced over to the empty beer cans on the floor and immediately recognized that the cans had come from a bar somewhere, and were probably just the tip of the iceberg. She suddenly became very nervous. "Richard, I love you, and only you. You have to believe that I'd never..."

Richard gripped her shoulders pushed her up against the wall. "No more games! I want to know right now who you're foolin around with!"

Minmei gasped in surprise. Richard had always been extremely gentle with her, even at nights when they were alone together. Now his hands felt like steel clamps digging into her shoulders, cutting off the circulation. "Richard, I think you've had too much to drink. Maybe we should just go to bed..."

"Oh, you'd love that one wouldn't you? Let's just go off to bed now and forget any of this ever happened!" Richard pulled away from her and stormed off toward their bedroom. "No, Minmei, you can sleep on the couch tonight. I think you've been through enough beds for one day."

Minmei wasn't sure what to make of this. She had seen him drinking before, but never this much at once. And even on the few times she had seen him loose control, he was usually jovial and comical, though still mostly controllable enough for her to get him to sleep without incident. But even in the almost 3 weeks they'd been married, he had never been that rough with her. Though she was confused by this change in her husband's attitude, she decided she was far too tired to think about it clearly so she planted herself on the couch and dropped her head on the pillow, falling asleep in a matter of seconds.

--22:40--

"Unbelievable!" Hikaru said. "Admiral Bennet's ship was captured by THEM?!"

Misa nodded across the table. "So I've heard. And that means Lacul must know about Earth by now."

Hikaru sighed. "That's a moot point. If he's got ARMD-16 intact, that means he's got reflex weapons and the ability to build more."

"I know. And you were right about keeping it secret, but now it's too late." Misa cursed herself for a mistake she had not even made. "Damn! Of only those couriers had made it through!"

She glanced up to see that Hikaru was smiling, but before she could ask what was so funny he started chuckling as he tried to explain. "I was right all along. History IS repeating itself. We don't have a choice anymore, we'll have to isolate ourselves from Earth or it'll give Lacul a reason to attack it."

Misa shook her head. "I don't think so. If he can't conquer us, there'd be nothing to stop him from going after Earth."

"He won't. Unless Earth gets involved, they're just another planet on his buffet list after he's done with us. Just like before with... oh forget it, I'm just rambling."

Hikaru stood up from the table and started up the stairs to the bedroom, but Misa grabbed his wrist to stop him. "You know something you're not telling me, or maybe you just think you do. Spill it."

"It's not important. Just something I've been thinking about..."

Misa pulled harder. "Tell me!"

"Misa, c'mon!"

"Why won't you just tell me what's on your mind for once? You're always so secretive!"

"Aw, quit naggin' you old hag!"

Misa gave one hard yank and pulled him down the stairs and halfway across the floor. "One more wisecrack like that and I'll assign you to permanent latrine duty!" she sat him down on the couch, and then continued. "Now tell me! What are you really thinking?"

Hikaru took a deep breath and spoke his piece "I really think we need break away and be independent. We should go off on our own."

Misa sighed. She had been hearing more and more of the same talk lately, and it didn't especially surprise her the Hikaru had been swept up in the madness, though it was in fact very distressing to know that her own husband had contracted this strange disease that made people irrational. "You've been hinting at that for weeks, and you're not the only one. I've had people coming to me by the dozens saying the same thing, and I always tell them it's a bad idea, which it is. What the hell would that accomplish anyway? We'd just be cutting off our only means for support..."

"But you KNOW they can't support us, not while they're still recovering from the war. We'd be doing them a favor by walking out."

"We're just a new colony! We can't do this by ourselves, you know that! And besides, Earth is our home! Our entire civilization is there!"

"What civilization? An endless field of empty holes with an occasional tuft of grass? Everything we had was destroyed by the Bodolza fleet except the Macross!" Hikaru wasn't shouting, but his voice was carrying a bit, and he worried about waking Miko. He lowered his voice and leaned close to her. "Do you remember when the UN government ordered Macross to leave Earth?"

Misa leaned forward as well. "How could I forget? It was one of the worst days of my life. For a time I was afraid we'd never make it home again."

"When we left Earth, some part of me was utterly satisfied. I mean, we had our own city, our own culture, we even had our own actors and celebrities. If it hadn't been for the threat of the Zentradi attacking Earth, we could have left forever and just kept on going. And now that we're in that same situation, why do we have to keep ties with them?"

"I'm sure there are people back on Earth who are wondering where we are and how we're doing. A few on this ship must still have family there."

"If they did, they wouldn't still be here." Hikaru searched her eyes. She was starting to understand.

Misa shook her head again, partly at him, and partly in disbelief at how quickly she was running out of reasons not to break away. "We can't just disappear. There's no good reason to do it, and we have too much to loose right now to take risks like that."

"If you really meant that, we wouldn't be on this planet right now. Do we have anything back home left to hold on to?"

Misa remembered that day, and in her heart she knew he was correct. Even so, he had a doubt. "Even if we're in the same situation, and the best thing to do is to keep their attention away from Earth, why do we have to disappear like this?"

"Because we can't afford to drag Earth into our own problems by staying affiliated with the UN Spacey."

Misa was almost floored by the statement. "OUR problems?!"

"Our problems." He said again. "Think about it. Space War I probably wouldn't have ever happened if it weren't for the Macross. The Zentradi didn't care about the Earth one way or the other, all they really cared about was the ship. Maybe if we'd just packed our bags and left, they would have concentrated on us and left Earth alone."

Misa was on the verge of a mental breakdown. "So what do you suggest I do, lie to them?! Tell the everything's okay and we're moving on to check out some planet in the middle of nowhere?!"

"Yes. That's what we have to do."

"You're out of your mind!"

"But you know I'm right. Space War I wasn't Earth's war at all. It was a war between the Macross and the Zentradi. For an entire year, we WERE independent. Earth intervened on our behalf later on, and Bodolza exterminated them just for being associated with us. I see history repeating itself with Lacul and the proto-deviln."

Misa was about to raise another protest, but then the reality of his words came crashing down around her. It all seemed to line up right before her eyes. "Damn. You're right, we fought that war all by ourselves for over a year. But things are different now. We have the leftover Zentradi from the last battle, Britai's commanding the fleet now, and the UN Spacey is stronger than ever…"

"They're nowhere near as strong as they need to be to have any hope of victory. But Gallaron has alot of advanced technology that's been out of Lacul's reach for thousands of years, technology I'm sure he wants for himself. If Lacul gets his hands on this planet, there'd be nothing in the universe that could stop him. He'd become the most powerful dictator in recorded history, assuming he even bothers to dictate anything instead of just sucking the life out of every living thing in the galaxy." 

"And we're in his way. He'll destroy us to get it." Misa said, thinking out loud.

"Exactly. But in order to get what he's after, he has to capture Gallaron and the old cities with as little damage as possible. That means that, like old Britai, he has to show restraint so he doesn't damage the very thing he's fighting to get for himself. As far as Earth is concerned, he has no such restraints. If the UN Spacey gets involved on our behalf, his fleet has enough power to sweep away their entire existence."

"How do you know that?"

There was a long pause, and Hikaru suddenly seemed troubled by something. "I'm not sure. But I have no doubt about it. Either we cut ties with Earth as soon as possible, or we repeat our past mistakes and watch the Earth be destroyed again, and this time there wouldn't be a planet left to rebuild on."

--23:40--

The Zentradi fleet gathering in the Rumal system was now in excess of 500 ships. Gunboats, battleships, destroyers, landing carriers, troop transports, pickets, advanced scouts... all united for the first time since the fall of Bodolza. Their union was one of necessity, fueled by fear and bound by uncertainty. 

It had all began in the Ishol system, where a Zentradi fleet under Commander Gyzol encountered a group of Supervision Army ships. They outnumbered the enemy 3 to 1, but the Supervision Army had a surprise for them. As the Zentradi closed, the enemy ships opened fire from a distance, bombarding the Zentradi fleet with reflex warheads and smashing more than half of their force in minutes. Their powered armors and supporting mecha were all equipped with some freakishly advanced weapons, proton missiles and small tactical nukes based closely on UN Spacey standard munitions. The Zentradi forces could not even get close enough to fire, and after the destruction of Gyzol's command ship those that survived the enemy onslaught folded to safety as quickly as possible. In the days and weeks that followed, other Zentran fleets encountered similar incidents, and suddenly the many private wars and struggles all across the Arturo Sector ground to a halt. 

It was General Shikari who first brought hope to the terrified Zentran factions, Shikari who extended her hand in friendship to all soldiers who dared to call themselves Zentradi. When the call went out, those fleets that had yet to be wiped out by the Supervision Army began flocking to her, first in a trickle, and then in a stampede. The fear and anxiety that accompanied the very mention of her name gave way to awe and respect as the mysterious meltran continued to expand her fleet.

Standing on the bridge of the Zentradi battleship Karatsul, The great warlord Shikari watched as more and more ships folded into formation with her forces. She couldn't help but feel impressed with herself at how many ships she had managed to gather. It was the stuff of dreams, the type of musing a Zentradi like herself held true only in the privacy of her own head. Now that dream was a reality, and Lamura's cocky little archivist had a fleet of her own. She started to wonder what Lap'Lamiz would have said if she'd seen what she'd been able to do in place of her former commander, and once again she laughed at the irony. She had never been able to beat Lap'Lamiz in a fight, but now she was in charge of her own armada of Zentradi warships. She laughed at the irony.

As more and more ships poured into the system, Shikari turned around to the sound of footsteps on the bridge. Commander Elensh, the ship's Quodrono leader entered the room and stood at attention. "General Shikari, we're picking up more ships folding towards us. We estimate the total number somewhere in excess of 600 ships when they have all gathered."

Shikari nodded. "That's still less than a third of the ships that scattered into this sector from the Bodolza fleet. Not counting the ones that were already patrolling here..." Shikari looked out at her ever growing fleet, then turned back to her Quodrono leader with a concerned look. "Elensh, even this won't be enough. The enemy still outnumbers us four to one. We need something more..."

Commander Elensh could guess what Shikari was hinting at. "The micronians at Gallaron?"

Shikari nodded. "They're repairing the factory satellites, and they have technology at least as advanced as the Supervisionists. They're holding the keys to victory, and all we have to do is go and get them."

Elensh thought it over for a moment. "Well, we have enough ships, why not take what we need by force?"

Shikari considered it for a moment, and the idea of conquering Gallaron with her new fleet appealed to her very much. But she had a doubt somewhere in her heart if it was really what she wanted, a doubt connected with a feeling she had never felt before. With a brief moment of reflection, she found herself thinking about Broli, the Zentradi warrior who had called her bluff, but for some inexplicable reason decided to spare her life. She felt some kind of affection for him, but lacking experience in such matters she found herself at a loss to understand or even act on the feeling. Instead of grappling endlessly with her emotions, she decided to set her feelings aside and make the most logical choice. "Once the last allies have arrived here, set course for the planet Gallaron and begin fold preparations."


	19. Chapter 18: The Last Goodbye

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Chapter 18: The Last Goodbye

--May 10, 2016--

--09:30--

It was a meeting she had been dreading, a meeting she knew she could not avoid. She assumed Claudia's presence probably inspired them to do it earlier than they would have, since they no longer needed to wait for the hyperspace relay to be completed. It also stood to reason that the fleet was now mobilized and stronger than ever, which they guessed might have had some influence on her opinion. In any case, it was time to pay the piper. The Megaroad City council had been watching the POPs. very closely, and they all knew what the general public wanted to hear. Misa knew as well, and went into the meeting knowing full well that if she would ever convince them not to do this, it would be now. On the other hand, her argument with Hikaru had blurred things. She was no longer sure herself if she really SHOULD try and change their minds. 

Captain Misa Ichijo entered the chamber alone to face the 22 members of the City Council. In the scheme of things, Misa was not only captain but "President" of the Megaroad, and for this reason hers would be the final word in this decision. "Captain Ichijo, please sit down. Make yourself comfortable." The Mayor of the city block, a short fat man named Kennith Jefferson pulled out a chair for her at one end of the huge table. Misa wasn't especially surprised to see Claudia sitting in the corner, obviously at the request of the council, nervously watching the proceedings with a notebook and a pen. "Now Captain," Jefferson began, "As you may have guessed, we called you here to discuss out future relationship with the UN Spacey."

"Or lack thereof." Misa added. "Let me guess, you're going to suggest to me that the Megaroad-01 colony should be autonomous and self governed, isn't that right?"

Jefferson nodded. He seemed slightly embarrassed at the idea that he was simply pestering the captain with matters she had already made up her mind about. "We have good reason Captain."

"I know. I've heard. But I can't help but wonder just what good that will do? What do we accomplish by going off on our own?"

"It's easier to form alliances for one. There are few Zentradi in this sector who did not belong to the original Bodolza fleet, and we feel it would be easiest to recruit them to assist us if we didn't have to go through official channels with the UN Spacey. And besides that, there's also the threat of the Supervision Army that has recently acquired their own reflex weaponry."

"Of course. But wouldn't we stand to gain more by staying affiliated with Earth?"

Jefferson shook his head. "We have discussed this in chambers and we sincerely do not want to get Earth drawn into the conflict. We feel this situation is comparable to the situation faced by the SDF-1 Macross 6 years ago, and as I'm sure you have heard we do not want to repeat our past mistakes."

Misa nodded. "Because all Lacul cares about is Gallaron, and we can't let him have it."

"That's about the size of it." Jefferson said. 

Claudia shifted in her chair. "It sounds like you're playing decoy again. You just wanna draw their fire away from Earth, is that right?"

Misa turned slowly. "They're right Claudia. This is the same situation we were in six years ago, and if we'd only stayed away from Earth like command ordered us to, maybe we could have kept their attention focused on us. Who knows what might have happened? Britai might still have joined forces with us and we could have stood up to Bodolza somewhere else, away from Earth."

"And what about your civilians?" Claudia said. "You can't jeopardize THEIR lives over a regret..."

"That's the same problem as before. No matter what we do now, lives are going to be lost. Our only choice is to go it alone, and see what opportunities life throws our way. Isn't that right Mr. Jefferson?"

Jefferson shrugged passively. "I wouldn't put it in so many words, but that's pretty much the point. UN Spacey can't handle something like this in their present condition, but we have something Lacul wants and that gives us an edge."

Claudia shook her head in disgust. "Nothing I say will change your minds, so you might as well go ahead and write up the secession papers. I'll take all the documentation back to Earth when I return."

Jefferson smiled. "We appreciate that Captain LaSalle."

Misa stood up from he chair. "Then if we're really going to do this, we need to make a formal announcement to the people."

"I'll leave that up to you Captain. The people listen to you and the Zentradi trust you."

Misa sighed. "Fine. Have your favorite media vultures set up a press conference for this afternoon."

Jefferson nodded. "I'll have the vulture's circling by 5 o'clock."

Misa now turned to Claudia in the corner of the room and walked over to her. "Claudia, I'm sorry we have to part under these circumstances but..."

"Yeah, I know. You'll be okay out here won't you?"

Misa stared at her for a long moment. "God willing. Have a safe journey home, okay?"

"I will..." Claudia suddenly remembered something from her first meeting with Misa, something she had almost forgot to mention. "You know, I noticed something about that little girl of yours."

"Like what?"

"The way she runs... like she's trying to fly away. Call it a wild guess, but she has thing for airplanes doesn't she?"

Misa groaned at the fact. "She's just like her father, it's all she thinks about. We have these old documentary videos about fighter pilots, and she just sits there watching them for hours almost without blinking. But she'll NEVER sit still for anything else!"

"Just like Roy." Claudia hugged Misa for the last time and turned to go. "I'll get the documents back to Chief Gloval. You take care of yourself now!"

--15:35--

Minmei came home at the usual time today, since the rehearsals for her show had been postponed for two days on account of the director's impending sexual harassment lawsuit with one of the coffee venders. She came home to an empty apartment and sat down on the couch to watch TV until Richard returned. For some reason, she had noticed, he was getting home later and later, especially on Mondays and Fridays. This didn't worry her at all, since she knew exactly where he was spending most of his time by the fact that he had come home drunk several times in the past week. Two days earlier he had staggered into the apartment with bruises on his face and arms, and with a brief call to his office she learned that he had gotten into a short but violent fight with his Zentradi manager. 

On this day, the door opened and Minmei was relieved to see that he appeared totally sober and in control of himself. But before she could even say a word, he ran across the room to the couch and kissed her. "Oh, you have no idea how good it is to come home to you every day!"

Minmei kissed him back. "YOU'RE in a good mood today! What happened, manager get hit by a truck?"

Richard pulled his coat off and sat down next to her. "Not quite. I've been working on this new promotion for an old client..."

"Who?" Minmei said.

"One of the construction companies that's planning to renovate the old cities when we go down there. Anyway, that Zentran didn't like the adds I came up with and it's been telling me for two weeks to do something else and, naturally, I blew it off."

"Naturally." Minmei said, rolling her eyes.

"Anyway, I decided to get the boss' opinion and I went behind it's back this morning to talk to him, but when I get there the two media reps from the construction company are sitting there IN his office, looking at some samples! How do you like that?"

Minmei giggled. "And you showed them your ideas?"

"Damn strait! They LOVED 'em! They took one look at them and just bought em all!"

The phone started to ring, and Minmei stood up to answer it. "Keep it up Rich, maybe YOU'LL be manager soon!"

"I don't plan to stay there long enough to manage anything." Richard said with a grin.

Minmei nodded and then picked up the phone. "Hello..." she said. Richard picked up the remote and started to channel surf, listening passively to Minmei's conversation on the phone. "...Yes this is Minmei... already? Well what did... are you sure?" Richard turned around curiously, and saw a strange expression across his wife's face. She almost seemed shocked and relieved at the same time. "...y-you didn't make a mistake did you... oh my god!" Richard muted the TV and turned all the way around, almost certain she was about to tell him something important. "I-I just... okay, Thank you." Minmei hung up the phone and walked slowly back to the couch next to Richard.

"Who was that?" He said, turning the volume down on the T.V. Minmei didn't answer right away, and Richard noticed tears in her eyes. "Mei, who was that?" He said again with more urgency.

"That was Doctor Ryan." she said, her voice just above a whisper. "H-He called to... to tell me... I..." Minmei wiped her eyes and tried to tell him the news, but she could feel the room spinning.

"What's wrong Mei? What's happened?"

Minmei took a deep breath and steadied herself. "Listen Rich, what if..." Minmei tried, but couldn't find the right words at this point. She decided under the circumstances the best thing to do was to go out and clear her head. "Oh! I almost forgot, I need to go shopping. We need a few things."

Richard looked at her doubtfully. "Yeah? Like what?"

"Like... ohhhh... we're out of noodles and we need more tomato sauce... you know, food and stuff."

"Food and stuff?"

Minmei nodded and reached for her coat. "And I also want to go down to the bookstore."

"Bookstore? For what?"

"For books Richard!" She said, giggling. "I'll be right back." As quickly as she could, Minmei raced out the door and down 5 flights of stairs to the street bellow. She headed for the grocery store to pick up something for dinner, and what a special dinner it would be. She made sure she had enough in her pocket for a slight detour to a store she had never been to in her life.

--17:30--

Every channel on the MBS carried the broadcast, as well as all of the radio stations. The public had been warned in scrolling bulletins across the bottom of their screens and in repeated messages over the radio that an important announcement would be made at 5:30 PM, and reminding everyone that regularly scheduled programs would be suspended at that time. Everyone in the city already knew what was going on as soon as they heard about it, and now 100,000 people all over the Megaroad crowded around their TVs and radios in nervous anticipation. Even Claudia was watching the signal from the bridge of the Maizuru, and the rest of the bridge officers were watching the stations nervously.

When the actual announcement finally hit the airwaves, every channel interrupted their programs and the symbol of the crest of the New Unity Government filled their screens for a half a minute. Then the image snapped off, and the veiw that replaced it was a forward camera angle of the SDF-2's bridge, obviously transmitted from the ship's own communication system. Misa stepped up to the front of the bridge and leaned partially over the railing, while the rest of the senior officers lined up behind her. "Ladies and gentlemen of the Megaroad-01 colony," Misa began, looking directly into the camera. "It's been 4 and a half years since the Megaroad left Earth. We've come a long way in that time, farther than anyone ever thought we'd go. We are farther from our home world than any humans have ever been, and by arriving here in the Gallaron system we are in fact farther from home than most of the other colony missions may ever be. Even at such a great distance, we cannot forget where we came from." Misa paused for a moment and took a breath. "The world we call Earth was a beautiful planet, a planet of color and diversity, an entire world teaming with life and the beauty of nature. Earth was the cradle of our civilization, the birthplace of our species. Everything that defines who we are and where we came from was there, everything that defines us as a people found it's roots in the fertile soil of out mother planet. And all of it, our culture, our history, our monuments and landmarks... gone, destroyed. Every last bit of it. And WE are to blame for it."

Claudia rubbed her temples, fighting the temptation to jump up and start arguing with the monitor. For now, the only thing she could really do was sit and watch. Misa waited a moment for her words to sink in with the people of the colony ship before going on. "Some of us here on the colony ship were survivors from the SDF-1. We alone shoulder the responsibility for the destruction of our home. Our part in this tragedy was not by choice, nor did we or anyone else for that matter have the benefit of hindsight to know just what the future would hold for us."

"You've gotta be kidding me!." Claudia said. Her executive officer shushed her and went back to looking at the monitor.

"Space War I began on South Ataria Island as the result of a complete accident, the firing of the Macross's main cannon by the automatic defense system. The Zentradi saw this as a sign of hostility, and the UN Spacey counter attacked. 6 UN warships were lost in that battle, and the Macross ended up stranded on the other side of the solar system, isolated from the UN Spacey and the rest of humanity. In this way, we discovered that the Zentradi had no interest in Earth whatsoever, and that their only goal was the capture and destruction of the SDF-1. The war was not theirs to fight, but ours, the crew of the Macross."

Claudia turned this over in her mind for a few moments, not really sure if she was willing to believe it. It was an interpretation she had never even considered before. "Eventually," Misa went on, "the Macross proved to be a more perplexing foe for the Zentradi than they had ever suspected possible, and in order to ensure it's destruction, Bodolza turned his sights on our insignificant but potentially dangerous allies on Earth, laying waste to our entire civilization just as a means by which to threaten the Macross. Those of us who survived on the battle fortress, together with thousands of survivors from the grand cannons and the lunar bases were forced to start again, building a new world from the ashes of the old. That was 6 years ago, and now, once again, we are faced with a difficult choice. If the Macross had known what would have happened to Earth, we would have left the Solar System and taken our chances amongst the stars, drawing the Zentradi away from Earth right along with us."

Claudia sighed. "Bring the main reflex furnaces up to power and begin fold calculations."

Her first officer relayed the orders to the navigation bridge and Misa went on with the speech. "It has been six years since the Earth was destroyed, and once again we are faced with a difficult choice. A new enemy has set his sites on the planet Gallaron for his first conquest, and unlike the Zentradi he will not stop at it's destruction. The Supervision Army is ruthless and destructive, ready and willing to destroy anything and everything in their path to achieve total domination. We alone stand between the Supervision Army and the rest of humanity, and this time we will not allow our mother planet to be drawn into the line of fire."

"Just like her father." Claudia said, smirking.

"I wish to inform you all of a decision by the Megaroad City council as of 10:30 this morning. The 1st colonization fleet hereby ceases to recognize UN authority over any and all matters of civilian and military policy. UN legal and political jurisdiction is formally revoked, and the UN Spacey chain of command is no longer recognized outside of the 1st colony fleet. As of today, the Megaorad-01 colony stands alone. It us up to us, and ONLY us, to defeat this new threat to civilization as we know it. Our only alternative is to watch whatever remains of our Earth bombed into dust and scattered into the solar winds. At this time I call upon all citizens of the Megaroad-01 colony, PLEASE be strong, and look forward to a future of peace and prosperity for all people, Human and Zentran."

Claudia smiled. "That was wonderful Misa." She said to herself. "There aren't alot of leaders who could convince 80,000 people to act as decoys."

Claudia's first officer turned around with a worried look. "Captain, she can't really do this can she? I mean, if they stay out here and take on those people on their own..."

"They'll all be destroyed." Claudia said. "Misa can't beat the Supervision Army and she knows that. She's trying to buy time for the UN Space fleet to build up their fighting strength for when they DO come calling."

"But..."

"This whole thing about history repeating itself gives me the creeps. The entire UN Spacey might as well have been a flock of seagulls for all the good they did against the Zentradi, and we're not that much better off now than we were before. And with Bodolza out of the picture, there's nothing to stop the Supervision Army from moving freely again. It's only a matter of time before we have to fight them, and Misa's gamble just might give us the time we need to prepare."

Claudia's first officer groaned, and the radar officer buried her face in her hands. "This stinks." said one of the operators.

"I know, but we don't really have another choice. Either Misa takes a bullet for the Earth, or WE take the bullet ourselves, in which case Misa's colony won't survive much longer anyway."

"All fold calculations are completed captain." Said one of the officers in the navigation bridge. "We are ready to depart."

Claudia looked at Misa one more time as monitor went dark, once again showing the crest of the UN Spacey, probably for the last time. "I'm sorry Misa," Claudia said. "I wish there was another way..." Claudia sat down in her chair and stared out at the planet Gallaron beyond the observation bubble. She wondered for a moment if she would ever see this planet again, and in her heart she hoped and prayed that someday she would come back to this place and retire. And then the view of the planet became wavy and distorted, and the stars began bobbing back and forth like wind chimes in a gentle breeze. And then, with a flash of light and a barely detectable gravity wave, AMRD-22 Maizuru was gone. 

--18:05--

The cameras all switched off and Misa made sure that they were off the air before turning to face the others. "How was it?"

"Not bad." Corina said. "Like most people, I agree with you. The entire UN Spacey was pretty much spectators though most of the war. On ARMD-3, we'd never even SEEN a Zentradi warship before the Bodolza fleet arrived."

Misa nodded. "I only hope the people can understand just what it is we're asking them to do. I mean, there aren't enough people on this entire ship to defend Gallaron, even with all the Zentradi forces here."

"What about the people on the planet?" Sara said. "Hikaru... I mean the colonel said they had their own weapons and stuff. Maybe we're not giving them enough credit?"

"Maybe..." Misa looked out at the planet Gallaron again. "Corina, clear all moorings and inform all sections to prepare for departure."

Corina took her station again and looked over the boards. "All sections have already reported. We're ready to go."

It only took Misa a second to realize her entire crew knew what she was planning to do even before she did it. "Mind reader..." she said scornfully.

"Uhhhh... sorry sir."

"Don't worry about it." The docking cables one by one began to detach from the ship, and after a few minutes the SDF-2 was floating freely in space, ready for its transfer to the planet bellow. "Engines ahead slow. Bring us into position for de-orbiting maneuvers."

"Aye sir." Corina said, sending the command to the navigation bridge. "Engines ahead slow. 8 minutes to de-orbiting maneuvers."

--18:10--

Richard was not at all surprised at the announcement, nor had he expected anything less. Everyone around the ship felt the same way, that the Megaroad was attracting too much attention and it would be a good idea to keep Earth out of it. Richard himself didn't have any particular opinion on the matter; Megaroad City council had control over all local matters anyway and it really didn't make a difference who the higher-ups were. Almost immediately after the broadcast, the ship started to move, and Richard immediately knew that they were going to offload on the planet bellow for a permanent city.

Minmei arrived a few minutes later with an armful of shopping bags and a smaller bag strapped over her shoulder. She set all the bags down on the counter and sat down next to Richard. "Did you see that broadcast?"

"Yup. Where'd YOU see it?"

"There was a T.V. in the store."

Richard looked at her doubtfully. He did not recall there being a TV in the corner grocery store down the street, and he started to wonder just where his wife had spent the last 3 hours. "What did you get from the store?" He said standing up to examine her groceries.

"Food and stuff." Minmei followed him and started to unload the bags.

Richard was immediately convinced she HAD been to the store. She had bought enough food for a three course meal, and some ingredients for a cake. There was also two cartons of ice cream, a few bags of fresh fruit, and fancy high quality fish that usually ran for $50 a pound. Obviously, he decided, she was in the mood to celebrate something. But most surprising was what he found in the bottom of one of the bags. It was a pair of shoes and a pair of slippers, each about the size of his thumb. "Mei, I know I have small feet but aren't you..."

Minmei kissed him before he could say anything else. "They're baby shoes."

Richard looked at them and smiled. "Ah! Baby Nikes. That's cute but we don't have a baby."

Minmei put her arms around his shoulders. "Well, I'm gonna have a baby."

"Yeah but..."

"No Richard, I'm GOING to have a baby." She said slowly, looking him dead in the eye.

He stared at her for a long time, not sure exactly what she was trying to tell him, until the obvious conclusion struck him at last and he almost jumped out of his skin. "You mean you're...?!" Minmei nodded. "You...You're...?!" She nodded again. "With my...?!" She nodded a third time, and Richard's head started spinning. "I'M A FATHER!"

Minmei giggled. "Well you have to wait nine months, Rich."

Richard picked her up and kissed her again and again. "I'M A FATHER!" He said again. "I love you Minmei!"

Minmei picked up the shoes and dangled them in front of him, even as he held her off the ground. "Just think, in 9 months there's gonna be a little baby running around here calling me mommy!"

Now it was Richard's turn to giggle. "YOU have to wait longer than that! They don't talk right away!"

"OUR baby will! Our baby will be the smartest, cutest, most adorable thing that ever lived!"

"As long as it looks like it's mother!" Richard said, setting her down. "I'm gonna start dinner. Tonight, we're gonna celebrate like it's the end of the world!" Even as he spoke, the building started to shudder as the ship entered the atmosphere of the planet Gallaron. The holographic image fluttered for a moment, giving the citizens of the city a view to the inferno outside. Richard thought of something else. "Gallaron's gravity is 2.4 Earth gravities. Is that safe for a baby?"

Minmei looked out the window where the holograms were flickering again. "So he'll be super strong too. The world's most wonderful baby!"

"Of course!" Richard said, moving into the kitchen.


	20. Chapter 19: The Gallaron Defense Force

****

Chapter 19: The Gallaron Defense Force

--May 12, 2016--

--21:50--

The ancient protoculture city was extremely well organized and efficient, yet dispersed and open enough to give one the impression of a small town. All of the streets were arranged in a circular grid, within which the buildings and parks and anything else in the city were organized to fit. The original colonists had apparently built the city from the inside out, starting in a central hub 3 kilometers wide where an ancient colony ship had probably rested at one time. The rest of the colony had expanded directly from that ship, with each circular road around the city marking off another short period of expansion and development. Identifying the age of any city on this planet was like looking at the rings in a tree stump, with all the newer architecture and technology could be found on the outermost edges and all the older buildings and most of the original residential buildings generally appeared closer to the middle. Over the now empty central hub, the massive hull of SDF-2 hovered motionless over the city as entire battalions of destroids and Zentradi powered armors dismantled the city, block by block, and carefully lowered the street sections onto the planet below. Every city block on the ship was divided into platforms that could be moved and shifted into position, and every building in the city was mounted on such a platform. Each platform was similar to standard Zentradi antigrav platforms, but it still took a half dozen powered armors to carefully and safely move one platform to the planet bellow. Even so, progress was being made, and the job was continuing steadily and carefully. The new layout of the city was almost identical to the old one, except that the upper level of the city block would be laid out next to the bottom one, and therefore some of the street names would have to be changed.

Misa and Hikaru walked along the ancient road in the Proto-culture city near the makeshift airstrip they had set up on one of the larger streets under the light of Gallaron's three moons. The ruins of the great city were dark and menacing, but being there together made it seem magical and mysterious for both of them. Miko scampered along in front of them, playing with whatever little artifact she came across on the ancient road, easily amused as always. Misa looked up at the sky as they walked and sighed distantly. "We're in big trouble Hikaru. Claudia's taken all the documentation to Earth, and we can't ask for help if Lacul or Shikari come after us. I wonder if maybe we've made a huge mistake."

"I think we'll be fine." Said Hikaru. "We can keep the Zentradi fleet operational with some basic field repairs, and the factory satellites will have the first new batch of warships completed in about 6 months. And look over there..." He pointed to the edge of the city at the hull of the ancient space battlecruiser half buried under the hills. The excavation of the ship was almost complete, and at any minute the reflex furnaces would be operational again. "That'll be SDF-04, and once we restore the other ships on this planet, we'll be stronger than ever."

"Oh, you're a babbling optimist." She said adoringly.

"And you're an old sourpuss." He said. "Always looking for a reason to be depressed."

Misa reached up and pinched him in the side, and they walked along in silence under the moonlight again, watching Miko frolic around in the street ahead of them. Abruptly, Miko stopped and stared around at something around the corner, and coming up next to her Hikaru and Misa saw Corina and the other members of her band crowded around a VF-4 Lighting fighter with a tarp over it. Corina happened to glance over at them from under the wing and walked over to them smiling. "Hi guys. Get lost or something?"

Misa laughed. "Just out for a moonlight stroll. What are you all doing here?"

Corina reached into her pocket and pulled out a small metal bar. "Lieutenant Harper made this. It's the new symbol for the Gallaron Defense Force."

Misa took the bar in her hand and looked at it. There was a black and white star on the left side over a blue disk, placed over a black and yellow stripe running lengthwise across the bar. "I 've seen this before. Isn't this your "condom?" She said chuckling.

Corina blushed heavily. "I'm sorry sir, I just figured you'd be mad at us for..."

"Oh don't worry about it Corina. What ARE you doing here anyway?

Corina looked back at the others huddled around the fighter, and Sara looked back and nodded. "Well Colonel, your fighter was destroyed in the defense of the planet Gallaron, so we feel it's only fair that the new Skull Zero should be the first plane to fly the colors of the GDF."

"I'm flattered." Hikaru said. "But I'll reserve all comments until I actually SEE it."

Corina grinned, and nodded back to Sara and the others. All 6 of them pulled the cover off the back of the plane, and Hikaru was actually impressed. The fighter still had the black tails and cross-bones of Skull Squadron, but rudders on the tails and the flaps and ailerons of the wings were painted fiery yellow, and the symbol of the Gallaron Defense Force was painted onto the wings and the side of the nose. "How do you like it?" Sara said. "Took us like two hours."

"I love it!" Hikaru said, looking over the plane. "You guys are great!"

Corina smiled. "The paint's all dry. Wanna take it for a spin?"

Hikaru looked at Misa, who shrugged passively, and Miko who for some reason had not stopped staring at the fighter. "I think I'll wait a while. Gotta get Miko to bed."

Miko looked up suddenly. "I'm not sleepy daddy. I wanna fly in your airplane."

Hikaru looked around at the night sky and wondered. "Misa?"

"Go right ahead." she said gesturing to the plane. "I'll hitch a ride with these guys."

Hikaru nodded and picked Miko up off the ground. "You wanna go flying Miko?"

Instead of her normal exuberance and joyful cheering as Hikaru would have expected, Miko simply stared at the fighter again with wide eyes as Hikaru carried her closer and closer to the plane. "Can we go really high?" she said quietly.

"Must be genetic." He said, lifting her up into the cockpit.

--22:15--

The citizens of Megaroad city had all moved out of the ship to await the restoration of their homes; most of them set up camps in the old city or in hills to the east. Others temporarily moved into buildings that the survey teams had finished with and set up makeshift apartments. Richard and Minmei had moved into a beautiful house close to the central hub where they could watch the progress of the reconstruction. The reflex furnaces beneath the city had all been reactivated, so the house had power and running water, and now at least they lived in relative comfort despite the fact that the windows had no glass or the fact that Gallaron's heavy gravity made it a bit of a chore to climb the house's higher than normal staircase to get inside.

On this night, Richard an Minmei sat side by side on the steps of the ancient house, staring at the flashes of light as several powered armors carefully set another section of the city into place. It would be at least another day before their apartment could be moved to the surface, and even longer than that before the main power grid could be restored to Megaroad city. Richard looked again at his wife, and the bruise on her cheek from his previous night's indiscretion and put his arms around her shoulders. "Mei, I'm so sorry for last night."

"Forget about it. You were drunk, you didn't know what you were doing." Minmei said brushing her bruised cheek. "I could never stay mad at you, I love you too much."

"That's what you said the last time, and the time before that. I still feel responsible. Is there something I could do to make it up to you?"

"Just try not to drink so much. Every time you come home tipsy you get a little more violent. I mean that really hurt last night, not like the other nights when you just kinda pushed me around."

They were both silent for a long time, staring at the stars above and the three moons that were all in eclipse, a sight no human before had ever seen with their own eyes. For a few minutes they sat in silence until Richard came inevitably back to the subject that they had come outside to discus in the first place. "Minmei, I've been doing alot of thinking."

"About what?" Said Minmei.

"About us. And the baby... at first I was excited about it, but what can we do now?"

Minmei shrugged at the idea. "Who says we need to do something? We have more than enough money to live on. My only concern is what to name it."

Richard laughed. "Like I said, the same ditzy optimist."

Minmei suddenly became very annoyed with him, partly out of a pregnancy induced mood swing, partly from stored up frustration with his condescending attitude. "I'm not stupid Rich! We're not that bad off and you know it! Between the two of us we make enough to raise FIVE children!"

"I never said you were stupid," Richard said lamely. "I just don't think you've really thought this through. It's a big responsibility, not like a dog or something. I just don't think you're ready for this."

"Well you're wrong, I've BEEN ready for this! But that's not even an issue anymore because I'm already pregnant!"

Richard looked around shyly. "Well...Uhhh... well we DO have choices. I mean it's not to late, you don't have to keep..."

"GODAMMIT RICH!!!" Minmei jumped up from the steps and screamed out in rage. "How could you even THINK about it?! What the hell is your problem?!"

"Minmei, why can't you ever take anything seriously?! You are having a BABY! It's not like getting a pet or moving into a new damn apartment! This is a huge change in our lives, and all you have to say is "What'll we name it?"

Minmei turned away from him, looking at the city. "It sounds like YOU'RE not ready for this."

The statement came as a slap in the face for Richard, and he tried his best not to think of it as a insult. But under the circumstances, there weren't many other ways to take it. But before he could raise any kind of complaint, he found himself thinking it over seriously. "A baby is a big responsibility. I want to make sure we're not making a huge mistake..."

Minmei turned to face him again and placed his hand on her stomach. "Richard, this is your pregnant wife and this is your baby. This is our family now. It's what you wanted isn't it?"

"Yeah but I'm not re..." Richard almost seemed shocked by his own words. He took a breath, and repeated slowly. "Th-This is what I wanted, but I don't think I'm ready for this yet."

Minmei smiled at him. It was the first time in a long time she had ever seen him accept responsibility for his own sour mood. "No man ever is Rich, that's why it takes 9 months for the baby to be born. I know you'd make the most wonderful father a child could have, all you have to do is be yourself..."

A low, rising wail erupted out from the sirens on the four corners of the city; the familiar sound of an air-raid warning. All of the lights around the city went dim and all the floodlights on the hull of the Megaroad clicked off as Corina's voice rang out from the loudspeaker, competing with the wailing of the sirens. "Emergency! Enemy ships sighted approaching Gallaron defense grid! All personnel report to shelters immediately! Kalidar! Debran gadradakan utomizo delkes nupesiet o Gallaron! Alma nous ukeito taulan holto!"

Minmei took half a second to remind herself to learn to speak Zentradi before jumping down from the steps of the building and running off towards the underground shelters. Richard, on the other hand, had less constructive concerns. "Since when do they have to make all announcements in Zentradi?! That's bullshit!"

Minmei tugged him harder towards the nearest shelter hatch. "There are 50 thousand Zentradi in the city right now! It's the LEAST they could do!"

--22:26--

Hikaru dove in on the city below at full throttle, gaining speed as he dropped in to buzz the deck. Just as he passed over the city, he turned the plane on its side and banked slowly back around to spiral up into the night sky. He did his best to keep the G-forces down, but he could hear Miko giggling in the back seat. "Go faster daddy!" she shouted again. Hikaru looked back in the cockpit to see Miko looking down at the ground with wide eyes, unblinking even as the ground spun around her head. Hikaru decided to humor her today, and pushed the throttles forward to full afterburner.

The fighter started to accelerate, and Hikaru banked strait up into the sky under full thrust. They rose higher and higher until Hikaru could hear the turbojets start to struggle with the thin air and started to level off. Here, thousands of feet above the clouds, the three moons of Gallaron almost provided them with a false daylight, especially the second moon, which was little more than a giant ball of ice. He coasted at that altitude for a few more minutes before dipping the nose and banking back towards the city and the Megaroad. As he closed, he hit his airbrakes and passed over the command tower and just under mach one and pulled off a quick victory roll as he passed over the hull of the ship. Miko shouted out in excitement. "This is fun daddy!" She shouted. "I wanna fly forever!"

Hikaru heard his own words in her voice, the exact words he had said to his own father almost 20 years before... it was an older plane then, his father's antique A6M2 Zero, a relic from the second world war that had seen its first combat at the Coral Sea. Hikaru was just 3 years old then, and his own father had just pulled a victory roll over the flight deck of the USS Forestall in Tokyo Harbor. He remembered then that as the plane was leaving the area to land again at the flying circus, two navy F-18s had come alongside of the plane to greet them, and Hikaru had waved at the pilots as they flew along with them. Now, almost 20 years later, Hikaru glanced out his window to again see a pair of fighters moving up along side him, this time a pair of VF-4 Lighting-IIIs from the Iron Chief squadron. Miko waved at Lieutenant Harper, and the pilot waved back. "Colonel, subspace tracking has picked up a fold reaction approaching the defense grid. You might wanna set her down."

Hikaru looked down at the city where several red lights were blinking around the alert sirens. "How long do we have?"

Harper looked at his watch. "They're expected to breach hyperspace within the next 5 minutes. All squadrons are arming now."

Hikaru held up his fist to warn the other pilots, waited three seconds, and then switched to gerwalk mode at the same time as the other two. "Get all fighters armed and ready for battle, but let's just pray we won't have to use them. I'm heading back to the hangar for re-arming."

"Yes sir."

Hikaru turned his plane around and headed back for the Megaroad's hull. "Sorry Miko, looks like there are some bad guys coming to attack us."

"Can I come and fight with you?" she said.

"No, I need you to go back to the ship guard the house. The bad guys might try to steal all your toys."

"Aye aye Daddy!" 

--22:31--

Captain Gouraz looked at the radar screen with ever increasing anxiety. The defold reaction was still spreading, and judging by its magnitude he could guess that there were at least 300 ships on the way. They all knew that the enemy ships were probably armed with reflex weapons, and they all knew by now that Lacul would stop at nothing to get his hands on the planet Gallaron. To make matters, worse, Varcus was on the Golgrono working with Korazan on his new pet project, which left Gouraz short one tactician. Even so, he tried not to worry. Thanks to the UN refit before the launch of the colony ship, the Bacta-Quedrali was more powerful than it had ever been, and his VF pilots were showing much more confidence in their machines. Only one of his squadrons had made the transition to the new VF-4's but he was confident enough in the older Valkyrie fighters to get the job done.

The Gouraz fleet was now spreading out among the moons of Gallaron in preparation for a reflex missile attack. Many of Captain Gouraz's ships were commanded by men who had faced the UN Spacey during the Bodolza battle, and all of them had experience with such weapons. Now it was time to put them to the test. At 16:31PM, the first Supervision Army ships folded into Gallaron space almost 300 thousand kilometers from the 3rd moon: one battleship, a dozen cruisers and 20 destroyers. These ships constituted the command group, and did their best to remain outside of the firing range of the defending fleet. Only seconds later, an additional 380 ships folded into low orbit of the moon in groups of 5 and 6 and moved to engage the Zentradi defenders. One of the attack groups de-folded too close to a Zentradi battlegroup and immediately opened fire. Their first barrage demolished one of the destroyers and a carrier, but the other three destroyers and four pickets of the group made especially good use of their new pinpoint barrier systems and returned fire with a full barrage. Three enemy destroyers were and the command cruiser were hulled by the return fire. The battle of Kaderak Three had begun.

--23:19--

Misa burst onto the bridge of the Megaroad and ran to the front of the room, almost forgetting that the ship was grounded and could not launch again until the colonists had finished unloading. "Corina, status report!"

Corina looked at the monitors. "They're fighting in low orbit of Kaderak-Three. All the destroyer groups have engaged the enemy ships, and the Bacta-Quedrali is leading a small battlegroup to attack the enemy command ships."

Misa looked at the tactical plot on the main screen in front of the bridge and smiled. "Looks good so far. Any reports of reflex weapons?"

"None sir. Captain Gouraz did a good job of keeping his forces spread out, so most of the fighting is in light engagements all around the moon."

Misa could see almost a dozen groups of enemy ships circling around a dozen friendly formations in low orbit of the 3rd moon. It seemed that Lacul, whoever or whatever he was, likewise had experience with reflex weapons and was making sure to keep his forces from bunching up as well. He knew the warships wouldn't use the missiles in such small scale engagements, but this knowledge also filled her with a new uncertainty. This meant that the enemy probably had a tactical advantage over Gouraz, having more experience with such nuclear warfare... and then Misa saw the blip on the screen, rising from low orbit of Kaderak-Three to attack the enemy command ships labeled "Gouraz Main Group." She quickly looked around the screen to see the positions of the rest of the enemy ships and her face turned to ash. "It's a trap! The command ships are baiting him! Tell Gouraz to retreat immediately!"

Corina saw it at almost the same time and started to send the message, but by now it was too late. The enemy command ship had already started jamming Gouraz's communications, preventing him from warning the other commanders from falling into the enemy's scheme, and the all of Supervision ships all broke off to close in around Gouraz's group. At the same time, the enemy battleship and its escorts suddenly charged forward to engage them head-on, moving to meet the Zentradi battleship just as Gouraz had intended, but when the jamming from the enemy ship reduced his radio to short range contact, it occurred to him that the enemy was about to use his own ship as bait for the rest of his fleet. Realizing his mistake, the Bacta-Quedrali and the other ships turned suddenly to avoid being boxed in, but this only made the situation worse. The other Zentradi ships instinctively followed the enemy ships as they moved to surround Gouraz's battlegroup, and in doing so played right into the hands of the Supervision Army. 

The Zentradi ships were halfway between Captain Gouraz and the third moon when another 100 enemy ships defolded in low orbit of Kaderak-Three and moved up to engage. All of them spread out to flank the now bunched in Zentradi warships, and all of them almost immediately began launching missiles. No one had to be told what type of warheads were mounted in the missiles.

--23:22--

The first spread of missiles hit the 13th unit, destroying a Quiltra-Quelol class carrier and badly damaging two of the destroyers and a picket. Further missile bombardments from the other Supervision Army ships were now felt all over the fleet, and in a matter of moments Captain Gouraz had lost over 20 ships to enemy missiles with dozens more reporting heavy damage. He could feel victory slipping from his grasp; the enemy fleet already outnumbered them two to one and had him in a disadvantage as far as positioning. He also knew that Karga's fleet was still in low orbit, and would not be close enough to assist for at least another half hour.

But Captain Gouraz was never one to welcome defeat. Though the battle was almost certainly lost, he knew he could still make the best of his situation. At last his forces were close enough to cut through the enemy jamming signals despite all the EMP radiation from the missiles, and it was now time to coordinate a counterstrike. "Destroyer groups 17 and 18, direct all fire on the enemy command ships to the front. Groups 16 and 19 charge the enemy forces and provide covering fire for the Valkyries! All other units to engage enemy reinforcements to the rear!" The group leaders obeyed, knowing full well that these orders would leave the Bacta-Quedrali and 30 other ships at the mercy of more than 300 enemy ships closing in behind them, in addition to the battleship it its 50 escorts in front of them. Captain Gouraz waited for his ships to get close enough, and watched his screens for the enemy ships to fire another missile barrage. As soon as they did, he gave the order to all ships. "Open fire all weapons!"

All at once, every ship left in Captain Gouraz's fleet opened fire with every weapon they had, beams and reflex missiles alike. All of the variable fighters closed in on the enemy ships and launched their own missiles, and all of their remaining Regults and powered armors charged in behind them and fired. The attacks from both fleets hit their targets at the same time; 11 of the ships in Gouraz's main group took direct hits, and each of the other destroyer groups lost two or three to enemy missiles. The Zentradi missiles themselves hit their marks, blasting dozens more enemy vessels into stardust before the Regult pods descended onto the survivors and began tearing them apart bit by bit. The battle intensified every moment it continued as more and more fighters and pods were drawn into battle with the Supervision Mecha. 

The enemy battleship in front fired a powerful barrage with its main cannons at Gouraz's escort fleet as they closed, reducing three pickets to balls of molten metal in a matter of seconds. Captain Gouraz determined that he would destroy those ships if it was the last thing he ever did. The Zentradi battleship pushed forward with its escorts, charging the enemy flagship as it deployed yet another barrage of missiles. Two destroyers directly in front of his ship were blown apart when the missiles impacted, and a Quiltra-Quelol class carrier was struck amidships by a reflex warhead along side him. Still, the battleship pushed on as missiles exploded all around it, firing back with its own cannons in waves of fire that would crush any lesser ship. His main guns scored several direct hits, as did the smaller batteries of the destroyers, but the enemy ship just seemed to smile and keep on coming. "Full barrage, all cannons and missiles!" He shouted to both his own gunners and the commanders of the other ships. Every ship in his formation opened fire with beams and missiles, and once again it was the Supervision Army's turn to suffer losses. The missile barrage knocked out 7 destroyers, and the cannon barrage that followed destroyed 8 more. A few enemy destroyers moved in front of the battleship to screen it from the Zentradi gunners, and the Bacta-Quedrali started knocking them down one at a time, using all 20 forward guns in a barrage to blast the ship to bits before moving on to a new target. In response, the heavy cruisers in front of the enemy battleship all trained their guns on Gouraz's ship, bombarding it from multiple angles and tearing bits out of her hull. At the same time, the enemy destroyers that had been closing in behind the Zentradi finally closed in and started to bombard them with cannon fire, and suddenly the Bacta-Quedrali was taking fire from all directions. A single beam passed through the command bridge in front of the observation bubble, and for Captain Gouraz that was the last straw. As still thicker amounts of enemy fire ripped holes in the ship's hull and Zentran ships Gouraz punched the comm button to the gunnery control room. "Open the main gun! Prepare to fire!"

--23:30--

Misa watched with horror as the Gouraz fleet dwindled down to nothing. Ship after vanished from radar, several others stopped responding or were knocked out of action. Hundreds of fighter squadrons no longer responded to their transponder calls, and Captain Gouraz's flagship and escorts were being pelted from all sides as they charged the enemy flagship. Gallaron's first defense line was crumbling, and nothing anyone could do could stop them from breaching it. General Karga's fleet was only now approaching the orbit of the 3rd moon, but under the circumstances there was absolutely nothing he could do to help now. The only hope for the colony, indeed for the rest of the universe was if Karga could hold the line against the Supervision Army.

And then Sara's sensor boards picked up a new gravity wave approaching the planet. "Captain, picking up a massive defold reaction, this one's even bigger than the last one!"

"How long?"

"They should be entering system in... 30 seconds sir."

Misa sat down in her chair heavily. "This just isn't my day is it?"

"We'll go down fighting, sir. If worse comes to worse, we can always destroy the city so Lacul can't get what he's after..."

"But we don't known if it IS in the cities do we? It might be buried underground or..."

Sara's sensors spiked again. "Multiple defolds sir! High orbit, third moon!"

Misa walked slowly over to the front of the bridge and folded her arms. "Show me." She said, bracing herself for the image of a sky darkened by enemy warships.

Sara put the image on the monitor, and Kaderak-Three appeared in front of the bridge. The monitor zoomed in three times to show a massive group of ships, rising from the planet's orbit to join the battle. But when the image zoomed in again, they could just see that these ships were all Zentradi warships, flanked by millions of Regult battlepods and powered armors. "Wait, those are Zentradi starships!" Misa shouted. "Tell Admiral Karga to move up to support them!"

"Yes sir!" Sara said excitedly. The screen returned to the tactical display as almost 100 Zentradi warships near the front of the new formation opened fire on the Supervision Army with a full barrage. Several enemy ships surrounding what was left of the Gouraz fleet turned to engage the new forces, and the Gouraz fleet now turned their attention to the enemy ships attacking the Bacta-Quedrali. 

Desperate to join the battle in time to help, General Karga's ships made an extremely low pass of the third moon, some of them passing as low as 500 meters from the surface on their way to join the new Zentran fleet. Their fighter units went ahead of them, rushing to the front with reflex warheads to support the new ships that lacked these weapons. As Karga's fleet began to approach firing range at last, all of the new Zentradi ships fired off a barrage of plasma missiles at the enemy ships, and a moment later a huge formation of Zentradi gunships opened their main cannons and fired on the Supervision Fleet. The combination of the cannon ships and the missiles destroyed 40 enemy vessels at once, and now the Supervision Army began to scatter. 

The battle that ensued was brief and violent; a bombardment from 2 Zentradi battleships and a pair of Quedol-Magdomila class command ships wrecked two entire groups of enemy destroyers, and General Karga's Valkyrie squadrons arrived in the battle zone and filled the sky with reflex missiles. This, plus another barrage from the Zentradi gunships and the two battleships main cannons crushed dozens of enemy ships at once, and now the Supervision Army began to retreat. The destroyers around the main Gouraz fleet folded first, followed by some of the ships around the Bacta-Quedrali and some of the escorts for the command ship. The enemy battleship was actually the last ship to fold out of the system, and with its departure the battle of Kaderak-Three was over.

Sara started to check with the computer system on enemy and friendly losses, when Corina's communication board registered a Zentradi contact code. "Those new ships are hailing us sir." She said nervously. "They're asking to speak with the... the micronian in charge."

"I'll take it right here Commander." Misa said. "Put them through."

The main screen in front of the bridge crackled for a moment and the image of a fierce looking Zentradi woman in battle armor, glaring at them with a grim expression on her face that caused Misa to immediately developed a cold sweat. "General Shikari Raskanos joins forces with Megaroad. Alkes dentalla."

The voice seemed powerful enough to split mountains with her words. Misa couldn't help but feel intimidated, but managed to respond in what could vaguely be construed as a brave tone. "Megaroad-01 welcomes General Shikari to the Gallaron Defense Forces. We recommend that you move half of your ships to the operational factory satellite to be overhauled at once, and we thank you for your assistance today." Shikari smiled at her, the kind of smile you'd expect from an executioner before beheading another hapless victim. Misa shivered at the memory of Shikari's smile even after the monitor clicked off. "No wonder everyone's so afraid her!"

Corina nodded. "Yeah, THERE'S a person I wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley."

--23:55 GST--

The warships of the Shikari fleet moved towards the factory satellite alongside the survivors of the Gouraz Fleet, all intending to be repaired and re-modeled. General Shikari herself stood on the bridge of her ship looking at the other ships around her on the monitors with a mischievous grin. Joining up with the micronians, she knew her fleet would soon become one of the most powerful fighting forces in existence, and that things would only get better from here... and then she saw a ship on her starboard side being towed in by several Zentradi destroyers. It was a Zentradi battleship of some kind, apparently it had been hulled by enemy gunfire with its main cannon open. Shikari had never seen such modifications made on a ship of this kind in her life, and even from what was left of the battleship she could tell it had been equipped with some incredibly advanced technology. She knew there would not be time to overhaul her own vessel in a similar fashion, but it was an effective reminder that no matter what new equipment and weapons the micronians could give her, the battle ahead would not be an easy one.

Another ship approached her vessel from behind the battleship, this one she recognized as the protoculture warship commanded by Broli Kidranik, the one the micronians called SDF-102. The ship hailed her as it approached, and Shikari answered the hail with excitement. "Kaalcha!" She said as Broli's image appeared on her screen. "So good to see you again!"

"And you, General." Broli said. "I can't tell you how glad I am that you accepted my offer."

"I told you I'd be watching, didn't I?" She said chuckling. "It would appear we've arrived just in time."

"It would appear so." Broli looked down and read off a paper in his hands. "We've done a headcount here. Your fleet has over 700 ships of all classes, including over 150 gunships. Where did you get all this manpower?"

Shikari hesitated to asnwer. "Lacul has been sweeping this entire sector since he got his hands on the lost reflex weaponry. You people are only his latest targets. There are still thousands of Zentradi ships out there he has to destroy, and as it stands there's no way we can help them unless they decided to join with us."

Broli nodded sadly. "General, you should have your fleet dock at the factory satellite's interior blocks for major refit. This could take a few weeks, so I suggest you make sure you don't have anywhere you need to be soon. And by the way, what are your preferences for crew size?"

"What do you mean crew size?"

"General Karga has refit his entire fleet to support a micronian crew, and he's in the process of replacing the old Regults with variable fighters. What is your preference?"

Shikari thought about it. "Most of my soldiers are powered-armor pilots, and I don't think they'd be very happy with giving up their machines. On the other hand, I think alot of the others might enjoy the extra leg room. I'll certainly talk it over with them."

"Excellent, General. In the mean time, I'll speak with the Captain and I'll try and get you a meeting with her. We have a few things to discuss, and I think it would be best to do that face to face." Broli was about to close the channel, when suddenly he remembered something. "Oh, one more thing."

"What?"

"Stop calling me Kaalcha."


	21. Chapter 20: Megaroad-01 Colony

****

Chapter 20: The Megaroad-01 Colony

--June 2, 2016--

Much had changed in the three weeks since the battle of Kaderak-Three. Shikari's fleet had been quickly equipped with reflex weapons and deployed to the perimeter to meet the next wave of enemy ships that everyone knew would be coming at any time. When they did arrive, they were met with a bombardment of reflex weapons and a barrage from a hundred Zentradi gunships, and after only a few minutes of fighting and a brief exchange of fire, they retreated once again from the system. After three separate assaults on Gallaron's defenses, Lacul decided to cut his losses and redeploy his forces to other fronts and leave Gallaron for later. For the many defenders of the planet Gallaron, this was a time to catch their breath and prepare for the war ahead of them. 

Megaroad city had been relocated to the central hub of the ancient protoculture city, and the construction companies had already gone to work on renovating the old buildings to make them habitable again. At the same time, Hikaru and an interpreter traveled into the great forest near the city to contact the planet's original colonists hiding there. He explained plainly to them that the Supervision Army had returned to this region of space, and that they were after the technology hidden away on Gallaron. The original colonists, or "Protocrans" as the called themselves, were definitely less than happy with the news, and immediately began sending emissaries meet with the Zentradi to discuss options. Through steady dialog with Misa and the other Zentradi generals, they agreed to a formal alliance provided they would be allowed to dictate the use of any weapons and technology that the Megaroad colonists could salvage. Misa found this reasonable, and she agreed to the terms. 

Shortly thereafter, a great migration began from the ancient forest. At first it was only a few dozen of them, wandering into Megaroad city to greet the newcomers or lingering around shops and markets out of curiosity. Soon there were thousands of them coming in and out of Megaroad city, trading and bartering ancient weapons or jewelry for some new trinkets from the visitors of from space. Richard managed to trade his blender and a few silver coins for a Protocran hunting weapon, a long spear-like weapon with some type of laser cannon in the tip of it. Most of the pilots from the fighter squadrons traded their spare flight suits for the decorated coats that the Protocrans seemed to have an almost infinite supply of but never seemed to wear themselves. Hikaru and Broli also dabbled in protocran firearms; Broli traded rifles with some of their soldiers and Hikaru traded his CD player and a Minmei doll for a weapon in the very image of a standard Zentradi energy rifle on a micronian scale. After a short discussion with Misa, he made plans for a lengthy quest to see just what he could get for his Lexus. Even Minmei frequently traded shoes and dresses with many of the women who set up little shops around the edge of the city near their apartment, and every once in a while there would be a small crowd on the corners where protocran visitors performed a light dance. No one had ever seen anything quite like it; a device worn on the wrist or the ankles of a dancer seemed to bend light around the performer, forming patterns of color that flowed through the air like water. 

After three weeks, many of them had moved back into the old city and had begun helping the construction companies with the renovations, and they were quickly becoming an all too common sight on the streets of Megaroad city. Since the Protocran merchants and visitors only spoke Zentradi, almost everyone in the city had begun to carry a pocket translator or privately studied the language in their own homes.  
Dr. Varcus and a team of mathematicians and psychologists had managed to solve one of Gallaron's newest and most perplexing problems: the 33 hour day. The solution was relatively simple: beginning on May 14th, the week was shortened to 5 days of 33 hours, forever eliminating Wednesdays and Saturdays from the human vocabulary. The new calendar was now divided into 11 months of 22 days, with December having 23 days and a leap year every two years. This resulted in a mandatory but inevitable shuffling of holidays, which most people could tolerate as long as they could still be observed in semi-normal fashion. There were a few people and labor unions who were angry with this at first, stating that this meant longer work days for the same pay, and many watchmakers found this to be an intolerable inconvenience. But after the first few days, the complaints vanished; one Gallaron day lasted about 33 hours, and there was nothing anyone could do about it other than get used to the changes. To take the load off the clockmakers, Varcus divided the day into three sections that were only too easy to remember "Morning, noon, evening." or "AM, LM, and PM." This set the work day at about 11 hours for most people, who generally worked during the noon hours, which still left 22 hours in the day to do whatever they wished. After the first week, people started to adjust to it, and most people even started to like it.

Minmei was one of the people who very much enjoyed the changes in the time. She worked at King Laos for 5 or 6 hours each day, then snuck off to the studio for rehearsals for the rest of the time, always returning home at the same time Richard did. Richard, on the other hand, was absolutely miserable. He had almost quite his job from having to work under a Zentradi manager for 10 hours a day instead of the usual 8. It also didn't help that the very same construction companies that had liked his add designs so much were now having second thoughts as their sales were beginning to drop off, and that the Zentradi manager had gotten yet another raise for bailing them out with fresh new ideas. At least once a day, Minmei caught him staring at the strange weapon he had bought from the protocran hunter with a wild look in his eye and a can of beer in each hand. This bothered her, though Richard had no idea how to use the weapon and even less of an idea of just where his manager lived. Between the changes in the calendar, his stress over the baby and his job, Richard was strung tighter than a violin string, and every other night he would set himself in motion with inhuman amounts of alcohol he bought from god knows where. Most of the times Minmei was able to get him to sleep without incident, and those times he woke up alive again, the same old Richard, off to slowly kill himself in the job he couldn't stand with people he despised. But sometimes he came home wasted and in one of his sour moods. Whenever that happened, much to Minmei's increasing discomfort, there was violence.

Keeping her mind distracted from her husband's dwindling self control was easy, she threw herself whole heartedly into her roles in rehearsals. The other actors and actresses found themselves competing with her in almost every scene, trying their best not to be upstaged by a superior performance, and eventually the entire cast started to show enormous improvement, much to the relief of the director of the show.

--28:25 GST--

It was opening night at the Galaxy Boulevard Theatre for Ruddigore. Minmei had invited everyone at King Lao's to attend, provided of course that they didn't mention to anyone the true identity of miss Ling Powel with the pink hair. Fei Chan was the only one of them who had never seen Ruddigore, the others having either seen or performed the show in high school or college. Just to make sure he could tell who was who, he invited his brothers along to join him, and the three men commonly known around the city as the "Three Kings" took their seats in the third row. "Hey Kai, you saw this before right?" He whispered as the lights started to dim.

Kai Chan nodded. "My girlfriend took me to see this a few years ago."

Fei Hong chuckled. "Was that before or after she became a lesbian?"

"After." He said flatly, resisting the urge to slap his brother. "Why DO you keep brining that up anyway?"

"Kai Chan, you haven't had a steady girlfriend since that tomboy in grade school. They either dump you after a week or they get another guy on the side... or girl in some cases..."

"Hey, I only turned one of them gay! Gimme a break will you?!" Fein Hong laughed, and Kai Chan decided to change the subject. "Anyway, it's a musical and all, but it's really kind of a parody. Most of the times it's pretty funny."

Fei Chan shrugged. "We'll certainly see won't we?" The lights dimmed all the way, and the orchestra started the music.

--28:30 GST--

Broli looked through the huge viewport in the massive hallway at the Phoenix while he waited for his party to arrive. The two ARMD carriers along side of it were being rebuilt and redesigned before his very eyes. The modifications to ARMD-18 were almost complete; a pinpoint barrier was installed in the hull, as well as several slots close to the front of the ship for deploying reflex mines, and the front section of the hull was being fitted with a massive clawed hand with three fingers and a thumb for what Varcus called the "Ultimate Daedelus attack." Misa had been flattered by this, considering it was her who had devised the Daedelus attack in the first place on the Macross, and building a whole new weapon system based on such an idea was sure to give her a big head. 

What interested him almost as much as the Phoenix were the 4 super dimension fortresses they'd salvaged from the planet's surface and the ice sheets of Kaderak-Two. SDF-03 would need the most amount of work, including a new set of engines and extensive hull repairs. SDF-04 was in the best shape of all the ships they had ever salvaged from the surface, and it seemed that the ship itself would need very little if any refitting other than a replacement of some of the outdated weapon systems. SDF-05 and 06 needed alot more work; both had been partially crushed underneath the ice sheet, and SDF-06 had actually been brought to the satellite in two pieces to be rebuilt. Soon, though, the new ships would be operational and the Supervision Army would feel their pain.

He heard footsteps behind him and turned around to see the first of his party arrive at last, this one being Lieutenant Harper in full uniform. "Hey there Captain Broli." He said. "Sorry we're late, but you know this is a pretty big space station here."

Broli nodded. "The section you're in right now is 1000 kilometers wide. You could get lost in this place and no one would ever see you again."

Harper chuckled. "Remind me to bring Sara down here."

A door opened further down the huge corridor and a small but highly attractive Zentradi woman with light green hair carefully walked out, looking at the backs of her hands as if seeing them for the first time. "How odd." She said under her breath. "I feel like a splinter." She walked towards them and looked up at Broli and Harper. "How do you all manage with such frail little bodies?"

Broli was about to greet her, but Lieutenant Harper snapped into action before he could even open his mouth. "I know it's quite a change to be micronized, but you just have to get used to it. It's really not all that different from being full sized you see."

Shikari squinted at him doubtfully. "It sure FEELS different. Do I look any different Kaalcha?"

Broli shook his head, but once again Harper jumped in again before Broli could speak. "Anyway, what's a pretty thing like you doing wandering around the factory satellite by yourself? You know, you could get lost here without a guide to help you."

Shikari blushed. "You think I'm pretty?"

"Sure do." Harper said.

It only now occurred to Broli that Harper had never met her face to face before, and he guessed correctly that this is what humans called flirting. "Uh, Lieutenant..."

Harper brushed him off and kept on going. "Nobody's ever told you that before?" Shikari shook her head, and Harper did his best to look saddened. "Well it's true you know. I think people should tell you that all the time."

"Lieutenant..." Broli tapped him on the shoulder, but Harper brushed him off again.

"So what ship are you from? Did you come with that new meltran fleet last month?"

Shikari nodded shyly. "Why do you ask? Would you like a transfer?"

"No, I just wanted to know if you had a phone number or something..."

Another small door opened further down the hall, and Misa entered the passageway with a micronized Admiral Karga and two protocran generals. "Sorry we're late Broli. This thing is bigger than it looks."

"No problem Captain." Broli discretely shoved Lieutenant Harper out of the way and walked around behind Shikari. "I'd like you to meet the commander of 82nd division of the Lap'Lamiz fleet, General Shikari Raskanos."

Everyone in the room did a double take, except of course for the two Protocran generals who'd never heard of her before. Misa and Karga looked at each other, then at Broli, then back at Shikari who was trying her best not to laugh. "Broli..." Misa started nervously. "She's... she's..."

"She's 5 feet tall!" Karga said, staring in disbelief. "You're saying THIS is the great warlord Shikari?!"

Shikari nodded. "I was chief advisor to the 82nd mechanized division under Commander Lamura. When Lap'Lamiz's ship was crippled in the battle against Bodolza, Commander Lamura ordered the rest of the fleet to retreat to the Arturo Sector, and we left Lap'Lamiz and a few others behind. A few weeks later, Lamura was killed during a battle and I took over from the bridge of the ship and lead the fleet to victory and I've been calling the shots ever since."

Karga could imagine that. With the Bodolza main fleet scattered as it was, there was probably no one else in their entire fleet who could have replaced her. "You used optical illusions to intimidate your enemies. That's... well that's pretty ingenious in a way."

Misa walked up to Shikari and looked at her more closely, and Broli was amused to see the Misa was half a head taller than her. "Well... it's good to finally meet you in person, General." Misa said.

Shikari nodded in agreement. "I'm glad we were finally able to arrange this meeting."

Misa stared at her for a moment longer before turning to lead them down the passageway. "If you would all accompany me to the Megaroad please, we have some business to discuss."

All of them followed her, and Harper nudged Broli in the ribs. "Dammit Broli, why didn't you say something?!" He whispered angrily

Broli shrugged. "You were doing so well. I didn't want to interrupt you."

--30:05 GST--

The entire cast made one final bow as the curtain closed, set to the applause of an audience of over 900 people. Minmei and the others wandered back stage as the house lights came back up and the audience began to file out of the theatre in one huge mass, some of them still laughing from the memory of the show, others trying desperately but unsuccessfully to get the bridesmaid's chorus out of their heads. Minmei managed to change out of costume and wash her face in a well practiced ritual she had mastered years ago, and was already on her way out of the dressing room when she felt someone's hand on her shoulder. "Ling, I SWEAR you were born for the stage!"

Minmei turned slightly to see the director grinning at her with a notebook under his arm. "Boss, you DO know this is the ladies dressing room, right?" She said, knowing full well that it was a rhetorical question.

"Why does everyone keep telling me that?" He said, rolling his eyes thoughtfully. "Anyway, I came here to give you this." He opened up the notebook and handed her an unsealed envelope. Minmei opened it, and saw a check inside in the amount of $5,000. "You did so good tonight I thought I'd give you a little bonus."

"That's very nice of you sir, but where will did you get the money?"

"My bank account."

Minmei looked up suddenly. "Your ba... Are you crazy?! I can't accept this boss!"

He stared at her for a moment, and then leaned in close to her. "I know people, Ling. I know things about people, women especially, that most people will never know. And I know something about you that you haven't told anyone else here and will probably never get the chance."

Minmei started to sweat. She could already guess what he was about to say. "What?" She said, playing innocent.

He smiled at her, and patted her belly with his open hand. "Just take the money. I lost my entire family in the war, and I wanna get yours off to a good start."

Minmei nodded and pushed the door open with her foot. "Thanks boss." She said.

"No problem, Ling. Go home and enjoy yourself now."

Minmei nodded again and left the dressing room. In the nearly 6 weeks she had been preparing for this show, nobody even knew the directors name. Everyone in the studio simply referred to him as "Boss" or "The Boss," with the exception of his ex-wife, who stopped by periodically, always called him "bastard." No one knew anything about him other than the fact that, like most small time directors, he was apparently totally unacquainted with tact or social graces, but could be counted on to move mountains and part the sea if one of his people needed it. The fact that he had somehow found out about Minmei's baby made her nervous, but the 5 grand in her pocket gave her the impression that whatever else the man was up to, he was only looking out for her.

She walked out of the theatre to catch the bus home, not even noticing the three men standing by the doorway. Fei Chan almost didn't recognize her with her wig on, but spotted her just in time and dragged the his two companions onto the bus just as the doors closed. "Basingstroke!" Fei Chan yelled out. 

Minmei turned around to face them and laughed out loud. "Fei Chan! I glad you could make it!" she walked back to the front of the bus and hugged him. "How'd you like the show?"

"It was funny. And you were great! I think the audience was eating out of your hand!"

"Really?"

"Oh yeah!" Fei Chan sat down at a side bench and offered Minmei the seat next to him. "Really, they liked the whole show in general, but whenever you came out they went crazy!"

Minmei took off her wig and stuffed it in her purse, and then started to free herself from the hairnet. "You think they recognized me?"

Kai squinted at her, finally remembering her face. "I didn't recognize you. I'm sure they just liked your performance."

Minmei smiled at him. "Thank you very much. Are you a friend of Fei Chan?"

Kai laughed. "Of course you don't remember me! I met you in that APC during the air-raid a few weeks back. Remember, anytime you go traveling, you call up the 8 bored marines..."

Minmei pictured the man's face underneath a helmet in poor lighting and suddenly she remembered. "Lieutenant Chan, I remember!"

The other two glanced at him. "Kai! Why didn't you say you'd met her?"

"Oh, c'mon, I forgot her name." He said defensively. He looked back at Minmei. "Well of course you know Fei Chan, and you know me, and this is Lao Fei Hong, the kickboxer. We're the Three Kings."

Minmei smiled. "Oh, you're the brothers?"

"Triplets." Fei Chan said. "We all own part of the restaurant, but I'm the only one who really manages it. Kai Chan's in the Marines and Fei Hong's been studying martial arts with a group of Zentradi."

"Uh huh..." She had heard the stories of the Three Kings hundreds of times, the legendary exploits of Fei Chan his two brothers. Their mother, as Fei Chan put it, suffered from a chronic lack of imagination, and their father returned from the war to three children named San. He managed to convince her to change the names, but they still ended up with similar names in the end, which they used to confuse their teachers from pre-school through college. 

Minmei was starting to see the resemblance between the triplets. They were all short, well built men with enormous hands tiny feet. If they were anything like Fei Chan, she decided she could trust them with just about anything. "How come they call you Lieutenant Chan?" She said, finally remembering to ask the question.

Kai Chan shrugged. "I transferred a kid named Private Forest with a funny little southern accent, and he started calling me "Lieutenant Dan." Eventually, EVERYBODY started calling me that, till at some point they figured since I was Chinese they changed it to "Lieutenant Chan."

Minmei chuckled. "That's cute, I like that." The bus stopped on the corner near Galaxy boulevard and Minmei heaved herself up from her seat. "This is my stop. Good to meet you guys." She started down the stairs to leave the bus, but the Fei Hong stopped her before she could go.

"I almost forgot, can... I have your autograph?"

Minmei laughed. "Sure." she pulled a pen out of her pocket and signed his handkerchief. "Kai Chan, how come YOU didn't ask for one?"

"I don't listen to pop music." He said plainly. "Are you planning on going hiking or something any time soon?"

Minmei handed Fei Hong the handkerchief and stepped off the bus. "Nothing really, why do you ask?"

"I'm bored out of my skull and I need something to..." The doors closed in front of him and the bus pulled away from the corner and sped down the street towards King Laos. Minmei patted the check for 5 grand in her pocket again and headed on home. She had a notion that no matter what mood he was in, Richard would surely get a kick out of this. But then she remembered what Richard had said about the Galaxy boulevard theatre, and the fact that they apparently had a number of Zentran actors. She tucked the check deeper into her pocket and made sure it would stay there until her husband was out of sight.

--12:35 Alaska Time--

Chief Gloval lit his pipe again as he read over Claudia's report. She had never seen him so stressed out in her life, but it was understandable with the election coming to a close and the impending launch of Megaroad-05. "This isn't good." He said again. In the almost 32 minutes Claudia had been standing there, the most Gloval had said was "This isn't good."

"It's a very awkward situation sir. There doesn't seem..."

Gloval held up his hand to silence her while he finished the report. At length, he put the papers down and looked up at her from behind his desk. "Misa and her colony are playing decoy, is that it?"

"Yes sir." Claudia said. "They're planning on keeping their attention away from Earth by engaging the enemy directly and leaving Earth out of it."

"Just like the Macross seven years ago." Gloval put his pipe down on the desk. "She's right you know. The Zentradi almost totally ignored Earth except as a possible means with which to threaten the Macross. The Supervision Army is the same, they only care about the advanced weapons on that planet and they don't care who they have to go through to get it. Misa knows her duty too well."

Claudia took an awkward step forward. "I don't think the people will take it very well either. They all remember when Macross was in the same situation, and you couldn't ask them to turn their back on the colony like that."

Gloval sifted through the papers to find a copy of the secession papers. He made sure it was all there, and then tucked the entire report back in the folder. "I know that. The people will be in total favor of sending reinforcements to help them out. And the Joint Chiefs will undoubtedly demand that Megaroad try to somehow evacuate the civilians to Earth and move some of those advanced weapons here for further study and development."

"At the very LEAST sir!" Claudia said.

Gloval reached into his pocket for his matches. "I'm sorry to have sent you out for nothing. It's a shame you were unable to find the colony ship." He struck one match and lit the bottom of the folder containing her report. After a moment, the entire document was ablaze just above his hand. "We may never know what happened to Megaroad-01."

Claudia looked at him as if he had just lost his mind. "What are you talking about?! I just..."

"And Bennet's fleet, destroyed by rouge Zentradi... such a shame. I wonder if a similar fate befell the colony ship?" He dropped the flaming papers into a wastebasket. "They certainly didn't form their own nation and declare war against a ruthless and unstoppable enemy. If that were the case, we surely would have tried to support them by now."

Claudia was about to raise another protest, but then finally understood what Gloval was trying to say. "Yes sir... it's strange. As the Megaroad was approaching the center of the galaxy, it just suddenly stopped transmitting completely. I'm sorry I wasn't able to find it, sir."

"It's okay, Claudia. You did your best." Gloval took another puff from his pipe. "I will stay in touch with them, and I will keep you informed of their progress as long as I can. In the mean time, you should return to your ship and prepare for your new assignment."

"New assignment Sir?"

"We're setting up a new unit to keep order in the colonies. A... Galaxy Patrol force if you will. Something to protect our colonies from attacks from rouge Zentradi and, if Misa's gamble should fail, the Supervision Army."

Claudia nodded in understanding. "I assume that's why you sent the new ship on this mission?"

"Exactly. The Maizuru class is to be the backbone of the new UN Spacey fleet. The Clemencheu, the Hornet and the Graf-Zeppelin are undergoing shakedowns as we speak, and I want you to take command of the first battlegroup. We've also equipped a few of the old Oberth class destroyers with fold systems, but the new space frigates will be joining your battlegroup in a few weeks."

Claudia saluted. "Yes sir. I'll get right to it."

--31:15 GST--

Misa activated a holographic display in the screen on the wall across from the meeting table showing the Arturo Sector and the surrounding space. Several stars were highlighted, Gallaron near the bottom of the charts and Bokata in the upper left hand corner. "The Zentradi listening posts in this area we have recently recruited have been keeping track of Supervisionist activity. They are sweeping across the entire sector, removing Zentradi remnants from the vicinity to clear a path for their unrestrained movement out of the sector." Misa was saying, pointing to the map.

"And they're moving towards Gallaron, is that right?" Said Varcus, mentally tracing their path.

"They seem to be working their way towards this system. We're convinced Lacul has a Fulbitz-Berrens class command base under his control in which case he probably has the ability to build more starships. But our factory satellites can build ships much faster than he can, so if we can organize a counter offensive we can beat him with a war of attrition."

Shikari started to say something, but the protocran representative named Hallas spoke up suddenly. "You're building ships in the factory satellites, but you need crews for them, correct?"

Misa nodded. "We're a bit understaffed. We have just enough soldiers for the Zentradi ships but the others..."

"Of course. I will contact my people and ask for volunteers. You may also need weapons for you infantry."

Misa shook her head. "We're not expecting any ground battles. Hopefully, we can keep them away from Gallaron long enough to build a defensive grid they can't break through."

Hallas shook his head. "In the past, the Supervision Army has demonstrated an alarming knack for landing troops deep within enemy territory and holding strategic targets, even when surrounded. They don't have to break through your defenses to capture the planet."

This seemed frustrating, but Misa knew there were always options open. "Varcus, what about that idea we had about the powered armors?"

Varcus nodded. "It seems like a good idea. It would greatly increase the effectiveness..."

Hallas suddenly looked up in surprise. "You would use Zentradi weapons for your soldiers?"

Misa looked at him strangely. "What's wrong with that? Some of their equipment is pretty advanced..."

"Of course it is, but... but those are slaves weapons..."

Misa looked at the other Zentradi around the table, and only then did she realize that they were all making a conscious effort to ignore the General's presence. "Hallas, your people created the Zentradi to fight your wars for you, and created humans for... god knows what... but we've all grown beyond that purpose now. The Zentradi are warriors, and they may be your former property, but right now they are valued allies."

Hallas sighed. "It's tradition, Captain. When the Zentradi started fighting on their own and thinking for themselves, they became less and less cooperative. I really think it would be wise to keep them in their place..."

"Thank you for the suggestion General Hallas, but that is no longer their place. The Zentradi are a free thinking entity now, just as we are, and we cannot restrain them anymore than we can restrain ourselves." Misa looked over at the Zentradi and caught a glance from Shikari and Varcus. It was the briefest of looks, and something about it saddened her. It was an almost childish expression of gratitude, the kind of quietly embarrassed thanks she had come to expect from small children seeking forgiveness for something. She hadn't given it much thought, but there was obviously still some friction between the Zentradi and their creators spanning from thousands of years ago. From what she was seeing here, the Zentradi were less than willing to deal with it openly. "General," Misa began, trying to diffuse the sudden tension. "Our engineers have experimented in the past with an omni-directional barrier system like the ones in your ships. We couldn't get it to function properly, but we understand there are such devices onboard the ancient starships on Gallaron?"

Hallas nodded. "That's correct. We originally developed it as a means to defend our ships against reflex weaponry."

Misa had a feeling that would come in handy in their current situation, and it amused her to think that an alien culture had come to the same conclusion thousands of years ago. "I want to repair this system in the Superdimensional ships, AND the Zentradi vessels."

"That system is for use only by protoculture ships. I'm sorry but it's..."

"Tradition, I know. The time has come to break from tradition, General Hallas. The Zentradi are no longer our soldiers, they are our comrades in arms. The only way to survive this war is to share our resources, their numbers and fighting spirit with our technology."

General Karga stood up and walked over to the chart. "The Mokora listening post has detected a group of enemy ships headed for Gallaron about here..." He pointed to a spot on the map close to the Berren system in the lower right corner, far from both Bokata and Gallaron. "There's rumors of another fleet approaching from the opposite flank. Lacul may use them to catch us in a pincer move."

Shikari thought it over. "The best thing would be to intercept one of them before they could surround us, and then counter attack the other as they got close."

"Exactly." Karga said, pointing to the fleet near the Berren system. "And this would make a perfect test."

"Test?" Misa said.

"I think we should send the Phoenix out there with a full battle fleet to intercept them. Have them all equipped with this new barrier system and see how it works."

"ME?!" Broli said in shock. "But... what... I can't lead a whole fleet!"

"It's just like Regults Captain, only they're alot bigger and not as fast." Karga almost seemed to be teasing him. "If you don't feel up to it, Shikari could tag along as an advisor."

Broli looked at Shikari, and she smiled at him. "N-no that won't be necessary." Broli said suddenly. "I'll do it, no problem."

"Good for you Kaalcha!" Shikari said.

Broli stood up. "We've got some work to do, so I'd better get going." He started to walk around the table, but paused for a moment and pinched Shikari's shoulder. "Stop calling me Kaalcha!"

Misa found this amusing, but looking over at Hallas the man seemed close to a heart attack. "Since when do Zentradi males and females interact with each other?!"

If Misa didn't know better, she could have sworn Hallas was Zentradi himself. "We introduced the concept to them, and they started to like it. Commander Broli is currently dating my first officer."

Hallas was stunned. "A Zentran in a sexual relationship?!"

"What's so wrong with that?" Misa said, not sure what kind of answer to expect.

Hallas stood up suddenly, then looked around the room and sat back down again. He looked directly at General Karga and Varcus for the first time that day, then looked back at Misa. "What is the nature of their relationship? Do they exchange affection?"

"What does that mean?" Misa said.

"D-Does he really love her? Does he even feel that emotion, or is he just imitating the people around him?"

Misa thought back to the many times she had seen them together, and the way Broli seemed to melt into butter whenever she looked at him. If he really was just imitating people, he was certainly a good actor. "From what I've seen, he's CRAZY about her. Whenever she's around he gets this funny little grin..."

Hallas stood up suddenly to leave. "I have to talk to my people right away."

"What? Why?" Misa stopped him at the door before he could go. "Hallas, what are you worried about?"

Hallas looked at Misa with an expression of near panic. "Captain Misa, our ancestors programmed the Zentradi to be emotionally dead! They're not supposed to feel ANYTHING! When we first created them they were perfect war machines, all of them incapable of any emotion whatsoever! Even hatred and fear were beyond their comprehension! What you're telling me now is impossible!"

Shikari and Varcus both stood up slowly and walked over to them, both very curious to know more. "Maybe we've evolved somehow?" Shikari said.

Hallas turned to both of them and spoke directly to them for the first time. "That's entirely possible. Zentradi nuero-chemistry was designed to be incapable of providing any emotional response. You were intelligent, logical, and versatile war machines for our race. We didn't integrate you into our society because you couldn't even understand the simple concept of happiness or even feeling offended, they were like robots!"

Shikari scratched her head. "The records don't show any of this...."

"Of course they don't. The Zentradi records of that time were little more than battle logs for future reference. I don't think you were even self aware at that time!"

Misa found all this to be a bit much to take in. "The Zentradi aren't supposed to be self aware?"

"Of course not! No wonder they stopped obeying us!" Hallas pushed past Misa and headed off towards the nearest shuttle bay.

Misa waited until he was out of earshot, then turned to Varcus and Shikari. "Go back to your ships and go through your records again. See if there's any evidence of this."

"Good idea." Said Varcus. "I'll check with Kraken on the Golgrono."

"Karga," Misa said, looking past them. "Assemble a fleet in the factory satellite. We'll install the new barrier systems right away."

"I'll get right to it." Karga said, moving out of the meeting room.


	22. Chapter 21: The Biggest Question

****

Chapter 21: The Biggest Question 

--June 6, 2016--

--30:05 GST--

The moons were blazing in the Gallaron sky, two of them full and one of the half. The second moon was setting on the horizon now, and the pale light danced over the lake on the far side of the city across from the forest. Richard and Minmei stared out of the window at Guacalas, who's new location gave it a spectacular view over the lakeside and the hills where the SDF-04 had recently been unearthed. Minmei found herself staring across the lake at the hill where they had camped out for their honeymoon, and felt knot tightening in her stomach. "You know, I think one of those protocrans was looking at me funny the other day." She said, only half joking. "You don't suppose they videotaped us and posted it on the internet or something?"

Richard laughed. "If they did, they're very rich men. We sure had a wild time up there."

Minmei chuckled. "Speaking of which, what about our dream house? Remember how we were talking about building a house up on that hill and raising our children there? Well I'm about to have a child, so how about the house?"

"With what money?" Richard said plainly. "We might be able to trade with those stupid pygmies out there for something we can sell for cash, but we really don't have the cash for it. Building a new house is just out of the question right now."

"Rich, they lowered the rent on our apartment ever since we landed here. Why are you so worried about money all the time?"

Richard rolled his eyes. "Which one of us does taxes and finances every month?"

"ME!" Minmei said. "We're on the new schedule, remember? I mailed out all the checks three days ago!"

Richard squinted at her, then looked at his new watch for the date. "Damn! You're right! I totally forgot about it!"

Minmei laughed. "Look, I went over all the records just to be safe. We're in no danger at all, in fact we have more than enough for ourselves as it is. I want you to quit that stupid job and quit worrying about everything all the time!"

Richard sighed. "Alright, I'll think about it." He took another bit of his burrito and ordered another drink from the waiter. 

Unlike the waiter, Minmei had been silently counting the number of drinks served tonight, and noticed Richard was leading her three to one. She decided this would be his last one for the night and went on with the conversation. "Have you thought of names for the baby?"

Richard shook his head as the waiter arrived with a new glass. "Hasn't crossed my mind. I wouldn't want to take the lazy road and just name him Richard Junior."

"No kidding. A girl named Richard would be pretty silly now wouldn't it?" Minmei said chuckling.

Richard smiled. "I never thought of that." He sat and thought about it for a moment, and then shook his head to change the subject. "There's something else I wanted to ask you."

"About what?"

"Well... I feel really bad asking you this but I just have to be sure."

Minmei laughed. "Sure of what? What's the big mystery?"

Richard gulped down the last of the wine and took a deep breath. "I'm... I'm the father, right?"

Minmei blinked. "What kind of stupid question is that?"

"Stupid yes, or stupid no?"

Minmei stared at him for a moment, not really sure if he was serious. "Of course you are. Where are you going with this?"

"Are you sure?"

A very loud grinding sound filled the air between them, originating from between Minmei's teeth. Weather this was a joke or not, she was no longer amused by it. "Rich, that's not even funny."

"It's not supposed to be. I just need to know..."

Minmei's face turned bright red. She stood up from the table and grabbed her coat. "I can't believe you just said that." She said quietly.

Richard stood up from the table and put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry Mei, I just..."

Minmei turned around suddenly and slapped him across the face with surprising force. "How could you even ASK that?!" She thundered, pulling her coat on. "What kind of cheap whore do you think I am?! Don't EVER ask me that again!!"

Richard noticed a dozen other people around the room looking at them, and the last thing he wanted right now was a scene. "Mei, I'm sorry, but sometimes you get home late all the time and you're always tired and... well I just want to know if..."

Minmei slapped him again, almost knocking him over. Before he could complain, she turned and stormed out of the building without another word. Richard, wallowing in embarrassment over even asking the question, sat back down at the table and rubbed his cheeks. After a few moments, the waiter returned to his table with a sympathetic expression. "You want the check sir?"

Richard was about to say yes, but then changed his mind. "I need another drink." He said flatly. The waiter moved off to get the order, when Richard called him back. "No, scratch that. Bring the whole bottle."

"Uhhh.... well, that's gonna cost you sir." the waiter said.

Richard sighed. "Well according to my wife, I have more than enough money. Just get it for me, will you?"

"Comin right up."

--31:10 GST--

Broli looked at his watch again nervously. "She's late!" He said again. "She was supposed to be here 10 minutes ago!"

Corina looked at him strangely. "Why are you so worried? You sound like a little boy waiting for his prom-date to show up."

Broli grinned. "I just wanted her to meet you, that's all." He looked at his watch again. "I hope nothing bad happened to her..."

"Oh grow up!" Corina said, standing up from the table to check the coffee pot. "Look, she'll get here when she gets here! Just calm down!"

Broli took a deep breath and sat down on the couch Corina had just vacated. Almost as soon as he did, there was a soft knock on the door, and the Zentradi officer leapt up to answer it. He threw the door open with a warm smile, which his guest returned in kind. "Kaalcha!" She shouted. "I'm so glad to see you again!"

Broli invited her inside. "I'm happy you could come, General. And stop calling me Kaalcha." Shikari nodded, and started to look around his quarters. She glanced over at where Corina was pouring coffee. "Shikari, this is Corina. She's the one I told you about."

Shikari smiled warmly, then walked up to face her. "Good to meet you!" Shikari said. "You're Broli's lover?"

Corina blushed heavily. "W-Well... yeah..."

Shikari smiled again. "He speaks of you as if you were made of gold. You must be very good at loving."

Corina's face turned purple. "Something like that..." She said, shrinking down.

Sensing but not understanding the awkwardness of the situation, Broli decided to change the subject. "Shikari," He said in Zentradi. "I need your advice on something. I want to ask Corina to marry me."

Shikari turned off her translator. "Marry you? What does that mean?"

Broli looked at Corina who was suddenly growing annoyed. "We're going to be mated permanently. Like... like an exclusive family unit."

"Is this the ritual where you become husband and wife?"

"That's it, exactly." Broli said. "That's what marriage is."

"I read about that before I came here, but I didn't understand it."

Corina sighed. "If you two are quite done plotting against me..." She pulled out three chairs from Broli's table and all three of them sat down.

Broli put his hands on Corina's shoulder. "I have so little experience in this matter, and I need someone who understands. Is she a good candidate?"

"What are you talking about?" Corina said, suddenly very uncomfortable. She felt like Broli was trying to sell her or something. "Would you PLEASE speak English?!"

Shikari stood up and looked her over thoroughly. "Is she good with her fists?"

"Very."

"Flexibility?"

"Superb." Broli smiled at that thought. There were only so many things that could apply to.

"Piloting skills?"

Broli frowned. "Ugh. None to speak of, but in that way she's alot like you..."

Shikari grinned. "I can pilot a battle suit with the best of them, Kaalcha." she said defensively. "She'll have to work on that. What about intelligence?"

Broli smiled again. "She's brilliant. Easily one of the smartest micronians I have ever known. It was her who guided me through some of the more bizarre aspects of micronian culture, AND she's a talented tactician."

Corina slammed her fists down on the table. "Stop it! I KNOW you guys are talking about me!" 

Broli smiled at her. "Easy Kitten. We're not saying anything bad about you." He turned back to Shikari and spoke once again in Zentradi. "So what do you think?"

Shikari looked at Corina for a long time. "I don't know, Kaalcha. This marriage thing sounds like serious business. Are you sure YOU'RE ready for it?"

"I'm sure."

Shikari turned back to Corina and looked her over again. "I'm uncertain... but it seems to me like it could do more good than harm. And besides, if you love this woman you should probably act on that feeling."

Corina blinked, picking up a few words she actually knew but not even getting the jist of the conversation. "I heard that! What are you two talking about?!"

"Thanks for your help Shikari." Broli looked back over at Corina. "Kitten, I have something really important I need to ask you."

Corina reminded herself of the strange, matter-of-fact way most Zentradi went about their personal lives, and realized that this was almost certainly something major. She remembered the procedure on most Zentradi ships that any and all major decisions were usually checked over by the chief advisor in charge, who used their superior intellect to asses the available data and point out the most logical options. In a way, it seemed like this was Broli's way of taking her to meet the family, but since she hadn't been able to follow their conversation she couldn't be sure what was coming next. She started to worry he might break up with her for some reason, and Shikari's presence certainly didn't get her hopes up. "Do... you wanna do this in front of her?"

Broli looked at Shikari, and then back at Corina. "Why not? Is this another thing we're supposed to do only in private? Like when we have se..."

"No, no," Corina said, cutting him off before he said too much. "I-I guess not. Go ahead and say what you wanted to say."

Broli sat down at the table, and Shikari backed away and leaned against the wall to give them some privacy. "Kitten," He began. "We've been seeing each other for about 8 months now, and in that time I have learned so much about you and your culture that I'm almost a totally different person."

Corina nodded. "I know. When I first met you, you were so dull!"

Broli snickered. "But the new and improved Broli Kidranik has reached an important decision about his lover Corina Matheson."

Corina glanced at Shikari, blushing slightly. "Uh... what decision Broli?"

Broli reached searched through his pocket and brought out a small folded napkin. For a long moment he thought about what Lieutenant Harper had told him, but he still couldn't remember exactly how to do it. Not wanting to waste to much time, he took a wild guess. "Corina," He reached out and grabbed her hand. "Can I marry you?"

Corina stared at him wide eyed, then corrected. "Uhhh...y-you're supposed to ask ME Broli."

Broli nodded as he finally remembered the words. "Will you marry me?"

"YES!" Corina snatched the ring out of his hands and kissed him. "Yes I'll marry you!"

--31:25 GST--

Hikaru stood beneath the giant cloning chamber at the base of the battleship in a pair of swimming trunks. He was nervous, as anyone would probably expect in this situation, but he trusted Varcus's calculations just as everyone else did. "Doc, you SURE this will work? I don't wanna step out of that thing with a shrunken head or something..."

"Trust me Colonel, the machine is 100% safe. There's little if any possibility that you will be seriously injured in this experiment. Actually, the point is to see it it will even work at all."

A small door opened in the bulkhead behind them and Lieutenant Chan's rifle squad emerged, all of them dressed in t-shirt and shorts. "Colonel, you're sure this thing is safe?"

"Relax, Kai Chan. I wouldn't be going with you guys if it wasn't."

The three women, each extremely young looking girls despite their 4 years in the corp, all looked around in renewed anxiety. "I don't suppose you could give us alittle privacy?" Said one of them, a blonde girl named Private Beecher.

Kai Chan rolled his eyes. "What are YOU so worried about? It's nothing we haven't seen before."

" Yeah, but what about Varcus?"

All 9 of them looked up at Dr. Varcus, who despite his enormous size was trying his best not to be noticed. Kai Chan shrugged. "He's a professional, aren't you Varcus?"

Varcus nodded slowly. "Yes...ummm... professional."

"That's right. Now let's get this over with." 

All 9 of the soldiers moved into their separate chambers and stepped inside. Each discarded their clothing in a small compartment next to the door, and Dr Varcus moved to the control panel in the other side of the room. "Colonel Ichijo has been through the process already, so he will be fairly used to this. First we have to flood the chambers with suspension fluid. The fluid is an oxygen rich compound that contains genetic material and some very specific amino-acids. It has a very odd taste to it, but I'm afraid you will just have to get over it. Let the fluid into your lungs and that will provide oxygen until the process is finished. It's alot like scuba-diving, and you have to remember to keep breathing through the process or you may suffer injury."

"So we breathe this liquid stuff?" Asked one of Chan's marines.

"That's the idea. This new process only takes about 10 minutes, but for this run I can't let you out of the chambers until I have all the data from the sensors. That could take a few extra minutes, but I promise, it won't hurt a bit."

Varcus flipped a switch, and the chamber started to fill with a blue liquid. "Here goes nothing..." Said Kai Chan as the liquid filled in over his head. He was surprised at first that he wasn't floating, but the liquid in the chamber was extremely thin and definitely less dense than water. He glanced to his left and his right at the others in the chambers and noticed that they, like him, were still holding their breath. 

Once the chamber was full, Varcus' voice came over the loudspeaker. "Alright. As soon as you all stop being cowards, I will start the cycle and get this thing going."

Kai Chan looked around again, and saw Hikaru look over and smile at them. Gathering his courage, Lieutenant Chan closed his eyes, squeezed his fists and exhaled.

--31:27 GST--

Corina was absolutely glowing. After Broli proposed to her, she grabbed him and Shikari to go out and spread the word. With the entire city now relocated to the planet, they swept through the entire ship extremely quickly and spread the word all among the crew, until at last they arrived at the Officer's Club and threw the doors open. The rest of Corina's band was there except Lieutenant Harper, mostly relaxing and joking around as they enjoyed their night off. Their relaxing time was interrupted abruptly when Corina rushed over and jumped up on top of the table. "I'M ENGAGED!" She said showing off a three-diamond wedding ring.

The entire band, along with everyone within 10 meters of the table stopped whatever they were doing and stared at her. It was something they'd been expecting for weeks, but now that the day had finally come, everyone was speechless... everyone except Sara, as usual. "It's about damn time!" She said, slapping Broli on the back. "I would have thought you'd be working on your first baby by now!"

Corina jumped down off the table and hugged Sara. "Oh Sara," She said, her voice cracking. "The dear sweet sister I never wanted... how DID you survive so long with such a big mouth?"

Sara patted her on the back. "Believe me, it's not easy." She looked over Corina's shoulder at General Shikari. "Hello, who's this?"

Corina turned around suddenly embarrassed. "I'm sorry. This is General Shikari Raskanos. She's Broli's... friend I guess."

Sara walked up to her suspiciously. "Aren't you the great warlord everyone talks about?"

Shikari nodded. "Not what you were expecting huh?"

"Not really. What's so tough about YOU?"

A strange grin spread across Shikari's lips. "Would you like to find out?"

Corina jumped in before they could come to blows. "Ummm, pay attention to ME! I'M the one getting married to the Zentradi hunk!" Shikari and Sara stared at each other for a moment, and then backed off a bit.

"Broli, you two set a date yet?" said one of the Blake twins, handing him a beer.

"I just asked her a few minutes ago. We haven't even discussed it."

Blake nodded and guided Broli off to a table closer to the bar while Corina grandstanded for her friends. "I guess you might as well take your time, you going on a mission and all."

"I know, I just wanted to ask her before I left, in case I didn't make it back." Broli looked out the window towards the Phoenix, undergoing yet another refit at the station dry dock. "I don't know about this new barrier system."

"Should work out." Said Blake, starting off a new glass. "I've been working with the engineers on the Zentradi destroyers. They say it'll work the way it's supposed to this time, but it won't offer as much protection as the Macross's barrier."

Broli chuckled. "As long as it doesn't explode when we take a hit..."

From across the room, both of them heard General Shikari suddenly shout out in rage. "Hajoca!" Both turned their heads just as the fight began; Sara picked up a beer bottle and smashed it over the head of the Zentradi woman, and Shikari came out swinging, landing a blow on Sara's face that sent the girl spinning.

"Hey! Hey!" Corina jumped into the fight to try and restrain Sara, but there were too many people in the way.

Sara lunged in and started swinging wildly, but Shikari almost seemed to relax in front of her and ducked all of her punches as if she was moving in slow motion. After a moment, Sara got frustrated and simply charged her, intending to tackle her to the ground and finish the fight... Nobody even saw it. The movement was so quick they didn't even know what had happened, but the next thing anyone knew, Shikari was suddenly facing in the opposite direction and Sara was on the ground next to her with a massive bruise on her face, quite unconscious. Broli came up next to Shikari like a lighting bolt and pushed her against the wall. "What are you thinking?!" He shouted in Zentradi. "You know better than that!"

Shikari looked into Broli's eyes pitifully. "But Kaalcha...!"

"You almost killed her, and you KNOW that! This isn't a Zentradi ship, Shikari! She doesn't know any better!"

"But...I..."

Broli stared down at her, making sure she understood. "Look, it's not your fault. The micronians are just like us, some of them are foolish. But you can't go around killing people who piss you off, okay?"

Shikari nodded. "I'm sorry Kaalcha."

"It's okay..." Broli looked at the back of her head where blood was running down her back. "Go in the back and get cleaned up."

Shikari nodded and headed off to the bathroom. 

--31:28 GST--

Kai Chan started to feel lightheaded. Pushing the fluid in and out of his lungs was making him tired, but aside from that there was a bit of disorientation. The ground seemed to be shrinking away from him, and the room was shifting before his eyes not only in proportion but in distance. It was a very bizarre experience that made him wonder if Varcus had not added some extra special ingredient into the fluid to keep them from freaking out. After a few minutes, the feeling subsided, and the fluid started to drain out of the chamber. "Now exhale as strongly as you can." Varcus said on the loudspeaker. All 9 of them did so, and the 8 marines collapsed into a coughing fit in the process trying to clear their lungs of the fluid. Hikaru managed to get it out in two breaths without coughing, and now took a deep breath of the air around him. After a minute or two, the others were all breathing normally again, and Varcus opened the chambers and handed them each uniforms. "Congratulations." He said evenly. "You are now macrons."

Kai Chan stepped out of the chamber and looked around the room, suddenly very confused. What had once been an enormous chamber large enough to fit an entire squadron of variable fighters and a few destroids had suddenly become a larger variety walk-in closet. "Whoa!"

"Now you see what I have to work with, Lieutenant? This lab isn't as big as the one on the Bacta-Quedrali, but I still managed to get the job done."

Private Beecher and the other two women quickly changed into the uniforms while everyone else was still disoriented by the sudden change in their surroundings, and Hikaru tugged at the folds of his own garments. "These things are more comfortable than they look." He said, impressed. "Hey, I wonder if they have these in micron size?"

"Fraid not." Varcus said. "So how do you all feel? Any different?"

The other marines were only now getting dressed again, but Private Beecher was pacing back and forth on the deck trying to get her footing back. "It feels really weird. Anytime I move there's a draft..."

"You're about 6 times your normal size. You could probably break windows with a sneeze."

Hikaru nodded. "I learned that the hard way. The Protocrans used to scatter whenever my nose twitched."

Varcus scanned each of them with medical equipment to make sure everything was functioning. After a moment, he nodded with satisfaction. "Excellent. Would you gentlemen like some time to get used to your new size, or are you ready for phase two?"

Kai Chan looked at the others, who all shrugged passively. "If it's all the same to you Doc, I think we might as well move on."

Varcus smiled. "I suppose that's a universal trait in all soldiers. They all dislike wasting time." He moved off to the larger door next to the wall and slid it open. "The powered armors are this way. General Karga has set up a very basic training program for you, but I think under your circumstances I'll give you a few minutes to...uhhhh... play with them first."

Hikaru cracked his knuckles on the way. It was very odd to be walking down the halls of a Zentradi ship in this way, it was easy to forget that no matter how small and cramped everything on this ship was, the vessel they were inside of was almost 3 kilometers long and everything he saw was in fact enormous. And then when he thought about it, he realized he was actually walking faster than most people could run. "You know, I've been wondering for a long time what it was like inside one of those machines. Is it anything like a Valkyrie?"

Varcus shook his head. "I'm sorry, I really wouldn't know. It's anyone's guess just which one of them is a better machine, since some pilots prefer one over the other for different reasons."

Hikaru smiled. "I guess we're about to find out then."

--31:32 GST--

After a few minutes, Sara finally came to and sat up confused. "Wha-what the hell happened?"

Harper helped her to her feet and put a wet towel on her broken nose. "You got your ass kicked Sara. Can't you tell?"

Sara squinted at him. "I don't remember..."

"Neither do we." Blake said, helping her to her feet. "She hit it so fast we're not even sure what she did."

Sara looked around as Harper started to lead her out of the Officer's Club. "I brought this on myself didn't I?"

Harper laughed. "You and your big mouth. Why WOULD you pick a fight with a meltran anyway?"

"I don't know." Sara said slowly. "Honestly, I don't have a clue. She must have knocked some sense into me..."

Corina watched Harper lead her out of the Officer's Club and sat down across from Broli with two new mugs of beer intent on going on with the celebration of their big night. "Broli, what the hell was that?! I didn't even see..."

"It was a two-step move." Broli said, demonstrating with his fingers. "She posted Sara's left foot, turned her shoulders sideways, and then spun back around and crushed her nose with her elbow." Broli took another large gulp of his beer. "But I've never seen anyone do it that quick before. Anyway, Sara got lucky. That move is supposed to be fatal."

After a moment, Shikari came back from the bathroom and the band bought her a "Victory round," which Shikari timidly accepted. "Where did she learn that?" Corina said.

"It's Diwigadrasu, basic close combat training. All Zentradi are trained in this fighting style from their first day alive, but the females are specially trained in the techniques since they're more agile and more flexible than the males."

Corina looked over at Shikari in disbelief. "You mean to tell me that little pipsqueak is a martial artist?"

Broli nodded. "All meltrans are, to a certain degree. The Queadlunn-Rau pilots are the meltrans that show the highest aptitude for close combat and therefore the best combat pilots. Shikari was one of those meltrans with really high marks for hand to hand combat, but she was specifically engineered as an advisor and archivist for command units, which means she's smaller and not quite as strong as the average Zentradi. If she was a soldier type meltran, she'd be a Quodrono ace by now."

Corina nodded. "I get it. She's good at fighting but she's the more brainy type?"

"Basically." Broli said. "Besides, the smallest regular soldiers in the fleet are at least half a head taller than her. In her engineered role, she's supposed to be almost totally passive and concentrate on tactics and data analysis, but she's too cocky for that. She keeps on training."

Corina realized Broli knew alot more about Shikari than he probably should have. "How do you know about all this?"

Broli shrugged. "She mentioned it to me a few days ago."

Corina looked again at Shikari, who by now was starting to loosen up. The other band members new better than to over drink such a small woman knowing what was ahead for them, but there was one other thing that she wondered about. "Broli, what was that between you two before? When you took her aside and yelled at her..."

"What, THAT?"

"Yeah. Are you so much stronger than her that..."

"No, it's just... well, she listens to me."

"Why?"

Broli was familiar with Earth customs and Earth history, and he knew the subject of obligation and slavery was somewhat of a taboo for humans. Though he did not think of her as a slave, and frequently reminded HER to do the same, he still felt some kind of influence over her and he didn't expect Corina to understand. "You could say... it's a Zentradi thing."

--31:50 GST--

The 6 powered armors circled through space around the destroyer in rapid movements that pushed the pilots and machines to their performance limits. Hikaru himself was very much enjoying this. Flying in a fighter was one thing, but the Zentradi powered armor felt less like flying a fighter plane and more like flying by himself. It was quite a rush that he felt he could really get used to, but somehow he still felt there was something missing from this mecha. "It's not bad, but it'd be perfect if it had wings."

Kai Chan barreled around in space, darting back and forth using his thrusters like a fly dodging a newspaper. He held up for a moment near one of the floating beacons Varcus had set up as targets for them and blasted it into dust with his rifle. He lined up two other targets and pelted both of them with the plasma cannon over his shoulder, and Hikaru could hear him laughing over the radio. "Colonel, this is so fun it's scary!"

Something flashed by Hikaru's left side, and he looked over just as a Queadlunn-Rau powered armor dove in on another one of the target sats at speeds that would have turned his stomach inside out. The suit blasted the first one with the impact cannons on its chest, and then sprayed four others with the triple laser guns in the forearms. "This is AWESOME!" Shouted Private Beecher from the suit. "I think I'm gonna STAY macronian!"

The other two female pilots released a cloud of missiles at the other targets, and a great number of them vanished in explosions a moment later. Kai Chan groaned. "I would complain about the way your suit would kick the shit outa mine any day of the week, but I don't think I could handle that thing anyway."

"It takes a woman's touch, Kai..." Said one of the others, barrel rolling around in space.

Hikaru shook his head. "He's right though. The female powered armor is alot more powerful than the male version, and under the circumstances I think we could use alot more of them."

"That's no problem. We have plenty of female marines." Said Beecher, pulling up in the space in front of Hikaru.

"I know, but that leaves alot of us boys in a bad spot. I wonder if we could deploy the unit for male pilots?"

Varcus cleared his throat from the bridge of the Zentradi carrier. "As much as our soldiers would enjoy that, I'm afraid it isn't likely to happen. Queadlunn-Rau powered armors are designed for smaller pilots with greater flexibility and agility than the average Zentran. And besides that, the dimensions in the legs are adjusted for a female body type. Unless the pilot is both short AND unusually wiry, he is going to find that armor... extremely uncomfortable."

Hikaru laughed as he realized exactly what Varcus was trying to say. "We're just gonna have to develop a new one." He said. "In the mean time, we'll take these units down to Gallaron and run a few training exercises. I mean, it's basically like using your arms and legs, right? All you have to so is get used to the machine..."

"It's a bit more complicated than that, Colonel. But don't worry, we have plenty of time to go over it."


	23. Chapter 22: Toy Soldiers

****

Chapter 22: Toy Soldiers

--June 17, 2016--

--28:20 GST--

Minmei heard the door unlock, and she heard the jingle of keys against the doorknob. As she had been doing more and more lately, she held her breath in anticipation until he came in. Would it be the real Richard she fell in love with or would it be the other Richard? She started to wonder if Dr. Jekyl's secret formula was simply 100 proof whisky.

The door opened, and Richard slipped inside, looking around the apartment with a half grin. "I'm home Mei." He said quietly. "The real me this time."

Minmei breathed a sigh of relief and looked up from the couch. "Rich, I'm worried about you. You know you drink to much..."

"I know." Richard sat down on the couch next to her and kissed the back of her neck. "I'm sorry about the other night."

Minmei thought back on it. Richard asked her if she would love him if he was a Zentradi, and before she could even answer the question he was slapping her around the room, babbling nonsense. "You need to stop drinking before the baby comes. I'm not gonna be the one to explain to him why his parents are fighting each other."

Richard put his head on her shoulder and put his arms around her waist. "I need your help. I'm out of control."

"Tell me about it."

"I'm unhappy, and I'm trying to drown it all out in booze. Tell you the truth, I'm happier just being around you, but even THAT makes me feel horrible when I come home and see you frightened like this."

"Quit your job Rich. Come home to me and be happy. Stop worrying about money all the time about come home and live with your wife and child!"

Richard nodded. "I'm working on a savings account. As soon as we have enough, I'll leave that job forever."

Minmei looked him in the eye. "PROMISE me you'll do it! Or find another job..."

"I've looked for other jobs, they're even worse and they don't pay as much. This way, I'll only have to work there for another month or two."

Minmei smiled and kissed him on the cheek. She rested her head on his shoulder for a few more moments, plainly overjoyed just to be in the same room with him. "Rich, have you thought of any names for the baby yet?" She said finally.

Richard smiled. "Nothing yet. You?"

Minmei shook her head. "I'm totally blank right now. Let's think of some together."

Richard smiled. "Alright, let's give it a shot..." He said, setting his mind in motion.

--30:40 GST--

The group of warships dubbed "the Superdimensional Fleet" by the public press were all docked at one of the smaller pods on the first factory satellite, now called Alpha Factory. Omega Factory was still being repaired, and soon its construction facilities would be churning out new warships for the Gallaron Space Defense Force. When it was completed, Alpha Factory would spend most of its time repairing damaged ships or refitting old Zentradi ships with the latest technology, and the giant space station was slowly becoming legendary for it's various construction projects.

SDF-2 was receiving the most amount of attention. At the urging of Captain Misa Ichijo, the ship's now empty city block and hydroponics sections were being refitted; the enormous hydroponics bay would soon be a gigantic airstrip for over 300 additional fighters, and four large, triangular booms were being installed in the now empty city block. When completed, Megaroad would have the single most powerful energy cannon ever mounted on a space craft of its size, capable of destroying dozens of battleships with a single blast. It was no small undertaking; there were 400,000 Zentradi and Protocrans working round the clock on the project, functioning side by side for the first time in thousands of years now that Hallas informed his people that the Zentradi had achieved consciousness.

SDF-102 Phoenix had finally completed it's refit and was testing its new barrier system. As part of the test of the system, the ship moved into space a good distance from the factory satellite and the surrounding area and activated its barrier system. The Zentradi battleship Golgrono took aim at the ship and fired a blast from one of its heavy lasers strait at the ship, striking the barrier dead on. The barrier blocked the beam completely away from the ship, but something unexpected had happened. Instead of absorbing the energy from the beam as everyone thought, the barrier's energy immediately reacted with the laser energy and released a powerful blast from the effected spot into space like a mini-solar flare. When the reaction died down, the barrier was still functioning, and the ship was intact. Unsure of the fault in the system, the mechanics of the ship checked over their systems to make sure it was functioning properly, and the Golgrono fired another round. Once again, the barrier reacted with the energy and a blast of reflex energy shot out from the impact point into space. After three separate trials with little to no effect on the barrier, the engineers determined that it was probably a property of the barrier itself and any time the barrier took a hit, it reacted with the energy in a powerful blast. All things considered, it was certainly better than a full scale overload, and the Phoenix had since returned to the factor satellite to take on its full crew compliment.

In the mean time, repairs continued on the other new ships of the fleet. SDF-03 needed almost as much work as the Megaroad, but being a smaller ship it would easily be completed much sooner. The new impulse drives were being fabricated along side the ship to be installed weeks later, and the hull of the ship was being reinforced and more weapons were added. SDF-04 was already close to combat ready. Two new Daedelus grappler modules were being constructed and fitted to the hull, and the Regult pod bays in the hull had been stripped down for use by variable fighters. SDF-05 and 06 were still being put back together, and no one expected them to fly on their own by the end of the year. It was an ongoing project, but a valuable one; the more the Phoenix battled and the more research they put into the ships, the more the military geniuses of the GSDF were finding the Superdimensional Fortress to be a very sturdy, versatile design that could take a pounding better than the biggest battleships. Plans were already being drafted on the SDF-Victory, a ship to be built from scratch as soon as the Omega Factory was completed.

Misa sat on the bridge of the Megaroad-01, overlooking the refitting of her own ship. She could see the construction teams on the hull forward of the bridge attaching armor plating to replace the semi-transparent panels along the hull, and additional laser turrets were being installed in the bow near the new fighter bays to give the ship a bigger punch against enemies. It was sad to think that they were so desperate as to convert something as benign as a colony ship into a full scale battle wagon, but in a way it made sense. SDF-1 had 50,000 civilians on board, and it was a ship to be reckoned with in any environment. And now SDF-2 had carried over 80,000 people to their new homes, it would too become a legend just like it's little sister. 

And in the distance beyond the hull of SDF-2, Misa could see the SDD-01, a protoculture destroyer people were calling "Thor's Hammer." This ship could carry more reflex missiles than a Zentradi battleship, and at just over 850 meters long the ship was lighter and faster than its Zentradi counterparts, though relatively lightly armed. She could see the lights dancing around the hull from the powered armor units training in space around it, learning how to fight in space for the first time. She worried for the safety of the Megaroad's marines on the ancient destroyer, but she was confident they could get the job done if they put their mind to it.

The door opened in the back of the bridge, and Misa turned around to see General Shikari and General Hallas entering the empty room. It was something that never failed to amuse her; even the stalky protoculture officer was taller than Shikari, though not by much. "And what have you two been conspiring about now?" Misa said, turning to face them.

Shikari walked up to her and spoke first. "We've been checking the records with the protoculture computer systems on the planet, now that we've repaired their reflex furnaces. Hallas was right, the original Zentradi were created without emotions, they just weren't chemically capable of having them. Obviously, that's changed over the years, but we don't know why."

Misa was still a bit uncomfortable with the whole situation. A relatively small Zentradi fleet had been sitting in orbit of the planet for hundreds of years and not known of their existence, and apparently they'd had no contact with one another in all that time. "How come you never noticed this before?"

Hallas shrugged. "Ever since the Zentradi stopped obeying us, we've done our best to avoid them. It's not that we're afraid of them or that we hate or resent them, but since we can't control them it is very difficult to stay out of the line of fire when a major battle erupts, and with the Zentradi you can never be sure when that will be.

Misa nodded agreeably. "Do you have any clues as to what happened?"

Hallas shook his head. "All we know for sure is that it's the reason the Zentradi stopped following orders. We've already checked with the records on gene-mapping and cloning techniques and we've found that nothing has changed since the first rollout of Zentradi soldiers. In fact, we can't even figure out why the Zentradi don't all look alike. Most of the cells for each separate type of solider are identical. Each of the different types of Zentradi soldiers should all be exactly the same. It just doesn't make sense."

Misa couldn't begin to approach the level of brain power of Shikari, and she couldn't compete with Hallas's historical background. But she did have some theories of her own. "If you ask me Hallas, the Zentradi simply evolved. They couldn't fight effectively against the Supervision Army, so they changed over time and got smarter, more aggressive, eventually developing a passion for fighting that made them better soldiers."

Shikari smiled. "Funny, that's exactly what I was thinking. What about YOUR people Hallas? You've adapted to hiding in the forests from the Zentradi and the enemy..."

Hallas walked to the front of the bridge and looked out over the bow of the SDF-2 while he thought it over. "5 thousand years ago this planet was attacked by the protodeviln. The people abandoned the cities and fled to the forests, but found they couldn't get enough sunlight or food on the ground. They used cloning technology from the Zentradi development projects and altered their own DNA to be better suited for their environment. Like slightly longer fingers, stronger hands, tougher finger nails and such." Hallas turned around and faced Misa and Shikari. "So you see, well all descend from the same race, for different reasons and in different ways I'm sure, but in every way that matters we're all the same."

Misa gave this some thought. "So we're all the same, descended from the protoculture. But there are many of our people who won't accept this right away."

Hallas and Shikari both nodded. "It'll take time, but eventually they'll get used to it." Shikari said.

"My people have always wondered what might happen if the Zentradi were self aware. It's a very debated topic, especially now that we know it's happening. I think curiosity will get the best of them in the end." Hallas added.

Misa sighed. "My people have always been paranoid and hateful. I only hope curiosity can do it for them too."

Hallas looked out over the bow again. "If they're anything like us, I'm sure it will. Ours is a race that just can't stop asking questions."

--June 18, 2016--

--09:50 GST--

The advanced fleet was finally all loaded and ready. 200 ships would participate in the counter offensive against the enemy fleet, but nobody really knew what to expect. The Phoenix's refit was finally completed, and the other Zentradi ships were all equipped with an omni-directional barrier system and reflex weaponry. Half of the ships had completely replaced their Regult battlepods with VF-4 Lighting fighters produced on the factory satellite's assembly lines, and the Phoenix's fighter squadrons would be going into battle for the last time with their older VF-1S Super Valkyries. 

Broli had been waiting near the docking port leading into the ship. He waited 10 minutes longer than he expected, but eventually Corina did meet him there. "Sorry I'm late." she said, rounding the corner. "I thought you meant the OTHER giant battleship at docking port 18."

Broli smiled. "It's okay, I don't mind waiting. We have plenty of time after all."

Corina looked at him with a worried expression. "Well, we don't know that do we? What if..."

"Relax, Kitten. I can't die while there's people here waiting for me to come back. I'd have too much unfinished business."

Corina grabbed him and hugged him tightly. "Just don't loose anything out there. No amputations okay?"

"Fine, but I can't promise no scars." Broli pushed her away and looked at her face to face. "Now, there's two things I wanted to get strait. Captain Misa tells me it's customary to wait a while from the time you ask a person to the time we actually get married. I think we should get married in 3 months from now, in September."

Corina jumped up in excitement. "September's perfect! I'll go for that! What's the other thing?"

Broli reached into his pocket. "I want you to have this..." The object he retrieved was an extremely detailed, hand carved wooden likeness of the SDF-102 about 3 inches long. "You once told me that people in your culture hold onto special items for good luck. Well let's think of it this way: you hold the SDF-Phoenix in your hand. If you break it, Broli will die in battle. But if you put it on the third shelf of your bed room... next to that picture of your mother and to the left of your bother's guitar, but not too close to the flower pot... Broli will always come back to you."

Corina laughed. "Picked that spot out did you?"

"Well..." Broli was trying not to smile, but failing completely.

"You're learning, Broli. Have a safe trip."

Broli leaned down and kissed her, then turned to board the battle fortress. "Remember, not too close to the flower pot!"

"I know!" Corina waved as the doors closed behind him. She looked again at the carving of the transformed battle fortress in her hand and couldn't help but feel impressed. It was obvious he'd spent alot of time on it, and the fact that he was giving it to her meant that he either had another one in his quarters somewhere or that he intended to spend alot more time in her quarters. When she thought about it, the latter seemed more likely; the last time he gave her one of his carvings he spent about 7 hours in her bed... and the couch, and again in the shower. It occurred to her that he was probably expecting something similar on his return, which she didn't mind at all. 

In a moment of uncontrolled giddiness, Corina turned and ran down the corridors of the factory satellite to the hoverdisk platform that would take her back to the Megaroad. "3 months from now..." She thought to herself. "I should go down to the planet. I need a dress..."

--25:10 GST--

Kai Chan and his squad returned to the barracks at last, each of them finally reduced to normal size. They entered to the familiar sound of laughter and dirty jokes, and Sergeant Alako's stereo playing Sunset Beach. Almost as soon as the squad entered, the sounds of the barracks gave way to cheers and applause from around the room to greet the return of the GDF's newest celebrities. "Welcome back giants!" Shouted Alako, turning the volume down on his stereo.

All 8 of them cut through the crowd and planted themselves on Kai Chan's bed next to Alako's stereo. "Man! What a rush! You guys have GOT to try it!"

Private Gomez sat down on the bunk next to him while the others crowded around them. "What was it like?"

Two of his soldiers sat down on the floor and Kai Chan leaned against the bed post. "Those powered armors are REALLY something! In a way, it's just like fighting in a suit of armor, only there's alot of different controls to memorize and different weapons... aw hell, you should see the units they give the women!"

Everyone looked at Private Beecher. "Yours are better?" Alako said, turning the stereo down a bit more.

"ALOT better! Mine was faster and more agile than Kai Chan's, and we've got better weapons and a shitload of missiles and stuff..."

Gomez laughed. "I guess you have to cut off you dick to get good equipment these days!"

Beecher looked up and smiled. "What're YOU complaining about? You never HAD one!" Everyone in the room laughed, and Gomez rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, we came here to tell you guys that they're transfering us to one of the proculture ships for training so you need to start packing. And by the way..." Kai Chan reached into his pocket and pulled out a stack of folded up papers. "Varcus and Korazan are drawing up designs for an upgraded male powered armor. It won't be quite as good as the meltran version, but it'll be ten times better than the one we've got." Kai Chan unfolded the blueprint and held it up for them to see it. "This is what they've got so far. It'll be easy to mass produce, so you can bet we'll ALL get one if we want one."

Alako took the blueprint and looked at it for a moment. "Not bad! What's with the... what's with all these missiles? I mean what are we, fighter pilots?"

Kai Chan smirked. "You can never have too much firepower. This bad boy's got 47 micro-missiles in three launchers, an auto-cannon in the chest, and triple barreled laser cannon that just SPRAYS everything in sight, AND it has flight capabilities in an atmosphere!"

Alako looked at the blueprints, and two other squads looked over his shoulder. "What's that on the forearms?"

Beecher shrugged. "We don't know yet. It'll either be a plasma cannon or a 30mm machine gun. It really depends on how much power we can get from the reactors."

"What about hand weapons?"

Private Forest looked over Alako's shoulder and pointed to a schematic on the lower left hand corner. "It's got a GU-11 gunpowd. The fighters use dem things, they MUST work alright..."

Alako punched the wall. "You see! They're turning us into fighter pilots!"

Private Forest rolled his eyes and sat down next to the bed. "Hey, at least we git to fight. I aint killed nuthin in 3 and a half years!"

Kai Chan laughed, then quieted the group for a moment as he heard another song playing on the radio. "Turn that up, will you? I like this song." Alako turned up the volume and they all listened to a verse of Zero-G Love. "Hey Alako, who sings this song anyway?"

"Minmei, I think." He said, listening to the melody. "Or Cristina Aguilaera..."

Gomez shook his head. "No, that's Minmei. Why do you ask?"

"I went to see Minmei a few days ago. This sounds just like her..."

Everyone else in the room not a member of Kai Chan's rifle squad suddenly closed in. "You MET her?!" Shouted two of the marines. 

"For real?! what's she like?!" Alako shouted, almost knocking over the radio.

"What'd you do Chan? You tapped that ass didn't ya'?!" Gomez said, patting his shoulder.

Kai Chan pushed through them to get to his locker. "Knock it off you guys!"

The crowd followed him, still jostling and curious. "C'mon Chan! Tell us what happened!" Shouted another soldier. 10 other around the room shouted in agreement and the group pinned him against the locker. Beecher and most of the women rolled their eyes in disgust.

"Gimme a break! I MET her, I didn't sleep with her!"

"Bullshit!" Alako said, nudging her elbows. "I bet she knows alot a tricks...!"

Kai Chan grabbed a deck of cards from his locker and pushed through the crowd to the table. "Not as many as your sister Alako!"

The entire gang laughed, but Sergeant Alako shrugged. "What can I say? My sister's a freak." The sergeant and 5 other soldiers sat down around the table and Kai Chan started to deal the cards. "Did you at LEAST get an autograph?"

"My brother got one."

"Which one? Ching Bang or Fei Wong?" Said Lieutenant Forest with smirk.

Lieutenant Chan stopped dealing and looked at the Private. "Did you just name two porn stars?"

"No, I didn't mention your mother."

Kai Chan snickered and dealt the rest of the cards. "Threes are wild." He said.

"So's Beecher." Alako added.

"Up yours, camel-jockey..." Beecher said, stretching out on her bunk to take a well earned cat-nap.

--25:30 GST--

No one could figure out why or how it happened, but for some reason C.K.'s Jazz Band was doing rap songs tonight. They started out with "Baby Got Back" and "Rump Shaker", then moved up through the 90's with a pair of Snoop Dog numbers and Outkast's "The Whole World." Eventually, they seemed to loosen up a bit and moved on to a Shaggy song, but the night was still young and nobody was exactly sure what was next. In any case, since C.K.'s band was handling the entertainment in the Megaroad City Officer Club tonight, Corina's band got together for the sake of pure relaxation, and to celebrate the joining of a new member: a civilian known to most as the "Mysterious Chucky" who had been recruited by Sara to run their new $600 mixing board Chuck was more than up to the challenge, and the group was in good spirits. 

All of the band members could tell Corina was in an especially good mood, which was not uncommon for the young officer. What seemed odd to them was the timing of it; Broli's ship had left that morning on it's mission, and it didn't make sense that Corina would be so chipper today. On the other hand, Minmei had been almost half an hour later than she said she would be, and she was especially quiet today, almost to the point of shyness around the band. Corina's energetic and excitable state simply couldn't tolerate her friend's melancholy, and decided at last to try and cheer her up. "What's the matter with you today?" She said, sitting down next to her at a table. "Why do you look so depressed?"

Minmei sighed. "I'm tired, that's all."

"You look all sad, and all... why don't you have a drink?" Corina looked at Harper, who offered her a glass.

Minmei looked at the offered beer, and shook her head slowly. "Not in the mood, sorry."

"Well, that's what the beer's for Minmei!"

"I'm sorry." Minmei said again. "I just need to rest."

Corina could tell she was feeling heavier than usual, and decided she'd just been on her feet too long. "By the way, I wanted to tell you guys that Broli and I finally set a date. We're getting hitched in September."

The 5 of them cheered, but Sara paused and added, "September what?"

"September... uhhh... Sunday."

Sara looked at her annoyed, then turned back to Minmei, who was half asleep in her chair. "These two will make a good couple. Did you SEE the ring he gave her?"

Minmei looked up suddenly, snapping awake. "I'm sorry, what?"

Sara groaned. "Minmei, if you're gonna stay here, would you at least cheer up a bit? You're bringing us all down here!"

Minmei smiled. "I'm sorry..."

"It's okay." Sara turned to the bar and ordered another beer, but did a double take as something caught her eye. She wasn't sure at first, but from her angle and the way the light was shining, she decided to check. Sara stood up slowly next to Minmei and walked around behind her. As she passed, she tapped her on the side of her head and looked at her fingertips; each was stained with blood. "Minmei, can I talk to you for a second?"

Minmei looked up in a daze. "Sure."

"Over here." Sara grabbed her by the wrist and lead her across the club to the ladies room in the back of the building. She checked the stalls to make sure they were alone, then locked the door behind them. "Look at me Minmei." She said, standing in front of her. Minmei stared at her, and Sara moved her finger in front of her face, tracking the movement of her eyes. "You have a concussion."

Minmei stepped back. "No I don't, I just..."

Sara rubbed the side of Minmei's head. "Who did this to you?"

Minmei turned away. "No one. I'm tired and I fell..."

Sara grabbed her and pulled her to face her. "Do you live alone?"

Minmei remembered what Richard had told her about talking to her friends about him, and decided she would honor her promise just as he honored his. "Of course I do. Why?"

"Did somebody hit you or...?"

"Look, I already told you! I was sleepy, and I fell over on the subway! My head hit the glass and broke it, and I must have hit harder than I thought."

Sara didn't believe a word of it, but Minmei unlocked the door and stormed out before she could complain further. The others saw her leaving in what could clearly be defined as a bad mood, and looked to Sara for explanations. "What's her problem?" said Blake.

"She's not feeling well." Sara said, sitting down. "I need a beer. I need a FEW beers."

Blake shrugged and handed her the drink. Corina wasn't comfortable with the situation, but decided under the circumstances not to worry about it. Whatever it was Sara and Minmei were so upset about, it would probably blow over sooner or later.

Outside the club, Minmei took a cab to the shady doctor's office down the street and around the corner from her apartment. He cleaned the cuts on her head, treated her for a concussion and sent her on her way to deal with his next patient without asking any questions and expecting no answer other than plain cash and a thankyou. Minmei walked three blocks back to her home, a home with one broken window and her drunken husband sleeping less than peacefully on the floor.

____________________________________________________

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

The powered armor referred to in this chapter is non other than the Renegade Powered Armor that harasses UN Spacey in the late 2030's and 40's. (Isamu Dyson destroys several of them in the first episode of Macross Plus.) This is not just me borrowing mecha designs so people can visualize what they're looking at. This **IS** the same mecha, though at this point it is still just a blueprint. Exactly how this model came to be part of the anti-UN terrorist's arsenal is kind of a long story and will be explained MUCH later. If you don't feel like waiting that long, let me know and I'll send you the spoilers. ^_~


	24. Chapter 23: The Battle of Zjen-Kari

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Chapter 23: The Battle of Zjen-Kari

--June 20, 2016--

--29:30--

It had been a good night for Corina's band. Word around the city had spread that with all the new weapons under development in the GSDF, Corina's band was actually testing a new song-warfare technique designed to enslave the enemy and bend them to their very will. In this way, the band had become known unofficially as the "Secret Weapons", which was amusing at first but acceptable in the long run as an unofficial stage name. 

Minmei and the gang performed a few original songs written by Sara, and then finished off with Love Drifts Away and Sunset Beach, much to the delight of the soldiers in the Megaroad City Officers Club. Minmei and the cast of Ruddigore were on a break for the week, and would pick up the show again on the following Friday night. This gave Minmei the rest of the week to kick back and relax, and maybe spend more time with her friends at the restaurant or at home with her husband. When the club finally closed down for the night, Minmei and Corina helped the rest of the band pack up their instruments for safekeeping. While they were loading their tools into the back of a truck, Corina nudged Minmei in the ribs. "Hey, I forgot to tell you. I found that dress you asked about."

"That little red one we saw?" Minmei said. "Corina that thing is really expensive! Don't tell me you went out and bought one..."

"Oh, no! I don't have that kind of money, but I talked to a friend of mine and she said she had one that was a size too small for her. I think it should fit you perfectly!"

Minmei smiled. "Thank you so much, Corina! You have it here?"

"No, I left it in my apartment. But I can run it by your place later tonight."

All at once, Minmei seemed to remember it was Friday night. She had made all the neighbors and her the landlord promise not to call the police if they heard a commotion, justifying it with her own promise that she would get him under control as soon as possible. But she knew Corina, and she knew she would probably beat Richard to death with a pipe if she found out about him. "No, I think I'd better come and pick it up tomorrow."

Corina shrugged. "It's no hassle! I can drop it off at your place easily. What are you so worried about?"

Minmei was nervous, but she decided to risk it. "Okay, go ahead and drop it off. But just do me one favor. If you come up to my apartment and you hear loud music playing, like say... Louis Armstrong or Lenny Kravitz, or any other oldies music, don't even bother to knock. Just leave the dress and go on home."

"I don't get it. You can't answer the door when the stereo's on?"

"Something like that. It's not my stereo though. I have this really old couple living next door, and sometimes he has to listen to his music at full volume. I probably wouldn't be able to hear you knocking anyway."

Corina nodded. "That makes sense. But I could still buzz you..."

"No, just leave the dress and go. I don't want to trouble you any more than I have to."

"Okay fine. If the music isn't playing, I guess I'll see you later."

Corina and Minmei hopped into the back of the truck and drove off. They dropped her off near the bus station, and Minmei paid exact fare for the trip back her apartment. 

--29:45 GST--

The skies of the third planet of the star system Zjen-Kari were dark with the ashes of once proud cities, and the cratered surface of the planet no longer yielded any life of any kind. The Supervision fleet, numbering in excess of 600 ships, had defolded into orbit and immediately begun bombarding the surface of the planet with what few gunboats they had and their reflex missiles, laying waste to the entire planet in a matter of minutes. The population of 300 million humanoids, all descendents of protoculture, managed to offer a total of 15 minutes resistance before the supervision army silenced them all, and now the fleet in orbit was powering up their fold drives for another jump on the way to Gallaron. 

Before the fleet could depart, however, the command ship detected a massive defold reaction in high orbit of the planet, a fleet of 200 ships entering from a nearby star system closer to Gallaron, most of them Zentradi. Acting on his standard programming, the commander ordered his fleet to attack the Zentradi forces, and all 600 ships moved into attack formation and armed their reflex warheads.

Broli watched them close to missile range from the bridge of the Phoenix and couldn't help but sweat. "Engineering, barrier system check!"

"All systems green captain, we're ready to go."

Amelia looked up from her consol. "The fleet's responding sir, all green."

Broli nodded. "Gunship squadrons move to the front, all destroyer groups take flanking positions to support them. Scout ships move in front of the gunships to screen them from missile attacks, but be prepared to clear the line of fire."

The fleet responded and started to shift formation. Amelia looked up from her consol again. "Incoming missiles, range 5 thousand! Closing fast!"

Broli took a deep breath. "Standby barrier systems. Engage on my command."

Mike switched the reflex barrier to ready mode and said a quick prayer. "I hope this works or we're fried."

"You're not kidding..." Broli said. He could just see the enemy missiles approaching them, and any second now they would detonate. "Range?"

"Two hundred and closing!"

"Engage barrier system!"

Mike took a deep breath and switched the barrier on. The officers in the barrier control room crossed themselves and threw the switch, and the omni-directional force field formed around the Phoenix. The other ships in the fleet did the same, and after only a few seconds the first cloud of missiles impacted. As expected, the missiles exploded in front of the gunships first, followed by the destroyers around them and then the Phoenix itself. The nuclear fireball from the missiles washed over the energy field, and the entire ship bucked and tossed like a feather in a tornado. The officers in the navigation bridge just barely managed to keep the ship from colliding with the scout ships around it, but when the blast faded the ship was intact. Another missile hit the Phoenix, and then another before the barrage ended. Broli looked around the bridge and patted himself to make sure he was alive. "Damage report!"

Amelia looked over her consol and came up smiling. "The barrier's holding! No damage to ship systems!"

"What about the fleet?"

Mike checked the data link to the others. "Four ships damaged with barriers inoperable. All others report no damage."

Broli smiled triumphantly. The moment of truth had come and gone, and now they knew for sure it was working. "Drop the barriers and return fire! Gunships, fire at will!"

All at once, the 200 ships of the advanced fleet dropped the reflex barriers and answered back with their own spread of missiles, blasting dozens of enemy ships to bits with the first salvo. As the destroyers fired away with beams and missiles, all of the the gunships quickly opened their cannons and took aim at the larger enemy battleships. They all fired at the same time, and the barrage of nearly 40 gunships ripped through the enemy formation like a hurricane... and then to the horror of everyone watching, the beams from the gunboats smashed into the energy fields around the larger ships. The smaller enemy ships without barrier protection were swept away by the barrage, but only a few of the larget vessels even noticed the damage. They simply charged through the blasts like titans and then returned fire with their own weapons. "Dammit!" Broli shouted, realizing the obvious too late. "The larger ships are all barrier protected! We can't get through to them!"

The ship lurched as a blast from an enemy laser cannon hit the pinpoint barriers. Mike checked his sensors again as the Phoenix's main lasers returned fire. "Captain, scout ships report enemy defense systems have a lower output. They must be using an older system, less advanced than ours."

Broli smiled at the thought and looked out at the battle around them. "No wonder they wanted Gallaron..." The enemy ships fired off a powerful blast at his fleet, but the pinpoint barriers on most of the Zentradi vessels were catching them. A pair of missiles screamed out of the darkness of space, and the Phoenix blocked both of them with its reflex barrier and then charged forward at full thrust to engage. "Main cannons up! If we take out the command ship, the others will scatter like roaches!"

Mike glanced at the radar officer, who nodded and started his sweep. "Scanning sir..."

A fierce volley of heavy lasers exploded from space, cutting down a destroyer in front of the Phoenix. The ship's helmsman swerved the explosion and came around again to scan the area for the behemoth command ship that was undoubtedly hiding behind the enemy fleet. After what seemed like a thousand eternities, Mike looked at his screen again. "There it is! I've spotted the command... whoa!"

"What is it?"

Mike put the image on the monitor, showing a truly enormous, wishbone-shaped vessel more than 4 kilometers long. "It's the same ship from the third moon! The one that got Captain Gouraz...!"

Broli looked at the holographic screen as Mike put up the image. It was indeed the same ship, with the same distinct markings along the hull and some of the same scaring in it's armor from the attack on Kaderak-three. These ships, he knew, were something of a rarity in the Supervision Army. And he also knew that these ships, besides being the command center of every Supervision Fleet, were said by some to be indestructible. Broli decided then and there to find out if that was true. "Set you target and power up the main cannon!"

Mike replied and then switched on the barrier to screen another spread of missiles. "We're locked on sir! Target in sight!"

"Open fire!"

Amelia pushed the leaver on her consol and a blinding red light filled the bridge as the main cannon fired. The blast from the Phoenix crossed the space between them before slamming into the enemy command ship on it's starboard side, impacting with the barrier in a powerful reaction that almost knocked the huge ship into a spin. When the blast faded, the ship was still intact, but its entire side was scorched and blackened. It's defensive barrier system was out of action now, but the command ship was far from finished. "They're charging their main weapon sir!"

"Evasive action! Full thrust!" Broli grabbed onto the railing in the front of the bridge while the ship moved around him, and the Phoenix moved out of the path just as the command ship returned fire with its main cannon. The powerful blast from the ship swallowed up 40 Zentradi ships, but when the beam shut down Broli looked at the rear monitor in amazement. No ship could have survived the colosal blast from the enemy beam cannon, and yet only half of them had been damaged or destroyed and the rest were already returning fire with their own weapons. Broli could just picture the blank face of the brainwashed officers in the command ship, experiencing true anxiety probably for the first time in hundreds of years. "Prepare to return fire! Target the primary hull of the command ship!"

Amelia's fingers worked over her consol almost in a blur. "Energy level rising! 1 minute to firing!"

Broli looked around them as the fleet fought on. Several Zentradi ships were badly damaged, trading punches with Supervision warships twice their size and twice their numbers. Two more destroyers in front of the Phoenix were torn apart by heavy laser cannons, and by now almost any ships on either side that had did not have a pinpoint barrier (or were not making good use of it) were crippled or destroyed. The Zentradi fleet was taking damage, but steadily fighting their way through, while the Supervision ships before them slowly dwindled away. Several squadrons of Valkyries fighters, including Viper and Thor squadrons filled the sky with smaller nukes, knocking down enemy mecha a dozen at a time before moving in and shooting them down one by one, and what few Lightning fighters they had with them were wiping the floor with the enemy battlepods before closing in to attack the enemy fleet.

A blast from a Supervision Army gunboat reached out from space, and Mike barely managed to put up the barrier system in time to block it. The blast from the gunboat immediately reacted with the barrier and a massive explosion burst from the damaged spot, rattling friendly warships for dozens of kilometers in every direction. On the bridge of the Phoenix, Broli was the only one who still had a sense of direction after the ship stopped shaking, but Mike was still reading off his consol even as he struggled to regain his balance. "Captain, barrier control reports the defense system is nearing stress limits! That blast weakened it, it won't take much more!"

Broli growled in anxiety. "Switch back to pinpoint barriers! Amelia, time to firing?"

"We're almost there sir!" Broli looked back at the Supervisionist command ship in his sights. If he destroyed that ship, the enemy would loose coordination and the battle would be his. All he had to do was destroy it, and then he would be faced with the daunting task of mopping up 300 bewildered Supervisionist warships. But then another blast from a supervision gunboat struck the ship, smashing strait through the pinpoint barriers and blowing off the ship's left arm, almost knocking the vessel into a spin. "Direct hit! Port grappler out of action!"

Broli looked at the command ship again. "How much longer?!"

Amelia waited until the ship had turned back to face the command ship and looked at the energy readout. "Main cannon at your discretion sir! Target lock confirmed!"

"FIRE!"

--30:45 GST--

Corina carried the box with the dress up three flights of stairs to the apartment Minmei was living in. She was disappointed to Louis Armstrong playing "What a wonderful world" from the room next to Minmei's, but she decided to just leave the dress and go back home as Minmei suggested. But as she waited for the elevator, the music paused for just a moment between tracks, and for a few horrible moments Corina heard shouting from inside Minmei's apartment. The music started up again after a couple of seconds, but Corina had already heard enough to get worried. 

She slowly crept back to Minmei's door and listened through the wood. She could barely hear anything over the music, but just as she was about to give up something slammed into the door on the other side. Corina listened again, and this time she heard someone crying inside. "Minmei, it's me! Open the door!" She tried the doorknob, but it was locked up tight. There was another thud as something smacked into the other side of the door. And then another. And another. Corina heard an angry voice from the other side of the door, and then she heard Minmei start pleading, even begging, for someone to stop whatever it was he was doing. She could tell from the sound the she must have been sitting or squatting in some way against the door, but the voice sounded exhausted, as if Minmei had been screaming like this all night. Suddenly, there was one last jolt as once again something smashed into the other side of the door, and then there was no sound at all, not a peep from inside the apartment, and after a while even the loud music stopped. Corina knocked on the door again. "Minmei, open the door." There was no reply. "Minmei, open the door right now!" Still, there was nothing. Not a sound from anywhere in the building. She knocked on the door one more time and put her ear against the wood to hear better... 

The long, bladed point of a protoculture hunting weapon burst through the wood, missing Corina's head by half an inch, and man's voice roared from inside the apartment. "Mind your own f*cking business lady!"

In her panic, it took her exactly 15 seconds to get out of the building, and once the rush of adrenaline wore off she made up her mind to go back to the apartment and settle the score with whatever kind of animal had invaded Minmei's life. She took a few moments to catch her breath and crept back to the apartment building, but by now the lights were out in the apartment and by the time she got back to the apartment it was silent again. She peeked through the hole in the door from the protoculture hunting weapon, but saw only darkness. Nothing moving, nothing breathing, nothing stirring whatsoever, Minmei's personal dungeon.

Under the circumstances, Corina did the only thing she could to. She went back to Chuck's garage got the truck, and then raced around the city to rouse the band members back out of their sleep. This, she decided, was an emergency at least as serious as the Supervision Army. 

--30:55--

Things were quiet again in the Zjen-Kari system, though far from peaceful even after this pause in the battle. The enemy command ship had been blown in half by the Phoenix's main cannon, and the two halves of the now split wishbone were falling through the atmosphere of the now dead third planet of the system. Most of the larger Supervision Ships were gone, but the ruined hulls of hundreds of smaller ships littered the skies around the Zentradi fleet. 

At the same time, the soldiers GSDF's advanced fleet were licking their own wounds. The command tower of the Phoenix had taken a direct hit from an enemy laser cannon, and the hull breach had been sealed by the ship's pinpoint barrier system. The command bridge itself was filled with smoke from a dozen small fires all over the room and the stench of blood hung in the air. The radar monitor was still smoldering next to the dead radar officer, and the rear operators stations were black with ash from the explosion that had blown the rear hatch off its hinges. The hatch itself, along with most of the bulkhead it had been attached to, now littered the floor of the command bridge beneath the feet of the crew as they tended to their wounds and looked over the ship's systems.

Broli 's chair had been uprooted by the explosion that had filled the entire room, and now Ensign Amelia Ryder was leaning against the side of it while the bridge crew tended her wounds. Broli and the surviving ops officer stitched the deep gash on her left arm bellow her shoulder while Lieutenant Mike held her down, pinning her head against the cushion with his forearm to keep her from looking at it. The shrapnel that had clipped her arm had cut all the way to the bone, and the officers had to use three different medical kits to treat the wound. Broli pulled another stitch through, and Amelia screamed louder. "I'm almost done Ensign. Just three more..." He said in as soft a voice as he could manage.

Amelia took a moment to catch her breath. "Don't baby me Captain! Just get it over with!"

Broli nodded and put in the last stitches to seal the wounds. Ensign Ryder gave one last screech as the wound closed, and then the chief engineer sprayed a foam over the gash to help it heal. Mike let go of her for a moment and wrapped the wound in cloth and a long strip of tape, and let her rest on the deck for a moment before sitting her up against the chair. "Get this woman a drink." Mike said, tearing off a peice of cloth to use as a sling.

"Make it scotch." Amelia said gruffly, rubbing her arm. "Goddamn! This thing hurts like hell!" 

Mike slipped the cloth around the back of her neck and slipped her elbow and forearm into the corner of it. "C'mon, I'll get you to medical..."

"Screw that! I'm on duty Lieutenant!"

Broli chuckled and moved over to Amelia's station to check the status of the ship, but almost as soon as he get there Amelia appeared behind him and pushed him out of the way. "I'm okay, Captain. I can do it." She said quietly, leaning back against the seat. 

"Knock yourself out." Broli said, backing away. The main corridors to the bridge tower had been sealed off until the outer hull could be patched permanently, which meant that a replacement crewmen would not be available for at least another hour. Not that it mattered; Broli couldn't have persuaded Amelia to leave her post if her hair was on fire. "Damage report."

Amelia looked over her consol and checked all shipboard systems with her good arm. "Port Daedelus module was severed, port laser cannons are down, but can be repaired. Explosive decompression in C and D blocks... and the starboard rocket motors are destroyed.

Broli looked over the side of the ship where a trail of vapor was jetting out of the rocket motors in the ship's torso from the enemy proton torpedoes that had smashed into the hull. "Impulse drives?"

Amelia looked over the boards again. "Impulse engines and fold drives are fully functional."

Broli leaned on the railing in the front of the bridge and thought over his next move. "We destroyed more than half of them in the first engagement... we've destroyed their command ship and some of their heavier battleships... we've stopped the enemy advance on Gallaron..."

Mike could tell Broli was wrestling with a conflict of interest he was probably very unaccustomed to. "Isn't it Zentradi procedure to destroy ALL enemies before returning to base?"

"It is but..." Broli looked around the bridge again, and over the railing at the command center bellow them where dozens of officers were laid out on the deck while their companions treated them with field medical kits. Even as he watched, operations officers pulled blankets over the heads of two of the wounded. "The ship is damaged and we've taken casualties. It would be best if we returned home..."

"We can take it Captain." Amelia said, rubbing her shoulder again. One of the officers from the navigation bridge entered the room and handed her a canteen of scotch, and Amelia took a large gulp before handing it over to Mike. "I mean, we're not exactly draftees, sir. It's what we trained for." 

Broli shook his head. "We should go back. This isn't a Zentradi ship..."

"We're not afraid, sir." Mike said, passing him the canteen. "We'll follow you through seven levels of hell before we even think about turning back."

Broli smiled and took a sip of the scotch, then handed it back to Amelia for her to finish it. "Maybe Hallas is right about us all being related..." He looked out over the bow of the ship. "Tell all sections to complete repairs, and begin fold calculations to intercept those enemy ships. We'll divide the fleet into small groups and track them down a few at a time."

Mike nodded and sent out the orders. A few moments later, some of the picket ships answered back. "Space monitor reports at least 100 enemy ships managed to execute a space fold out of this system."

Broli nodded. "They won't go very far. With the command ship out of action they'll send courier ships to summon another one from their home base. Until they get new orders, they won't move from this region. We'll have to finish this before it gets here."

Mike sent orders to send a few ships to track down the ones that folded, but then he got an idea. "If they're sending another command ship, why don't we wait?"

Broli turned slowly and looked at Mike. "Wait?"

"We'll mop up the survivors from this fleet, then we'll hang around until their command ship comes to take charge of the group. It'll be a bonus target, two in one day!"

Broli smiled. "And all this time I thought you were a micronian!"

Mike laughed out loud. "I guess there's alittle Zentradi in all of us!"

"I guess." Broli looked out the side window of the ship at the fleet around him. "Gather two gunboats and an escort of destroyers and start tracking the enemy warships still in this system. We'd better finish this before their reinforcements arrive."

--32:50 GST--

There was a raucous pounding on the door at almost midnight, which for Lao Fei Chan usually meant looters or crooks. On the other hand, the fact that the door was still there at this time was a good sign. Whoever they were, they did not seem in any hurry to break the door down. He threw on a robe and trudged down the stairs to the back door of the restaurant to see just who it was who was disturbing his sleep, and opened the door to the sight of a half dozen angry people in Naval uniforms. They apparently weren't armed for battle; two of them had guitars over their shoulders. He squinted at them through the darkness until he recognized who they were. "Aren't you the Secret Weapons?" He said nervously.

"Yeah." Corina said curtly. "We got a problem with our lead singer."

"You mean Minmei? What's the prob... oh no!"

"That's right. She works here, right?" Sara said.

Fei Chan stepped back and gestured for them to step inside. All six of them entered, and he set up chairs around a table near the back of the restaurant and poured six glasses of wine. "I first noticed it about a week ago."

"Noticed what?"

"The bruises. She keeps them covered up pretty well, but every once in a while..."

Corina took a sip of the wine. "Where do you notice them?"

"She takes care to keep her arms covered under the sleeves. But sometimes you see a mark or two on her leg or on her face. She usually keeps it covered with powder or something, but if you see her as much as I do you start to notice little marks that most people probably wouldn't pick up."

One of the Blakes nodded. "I saw it the other night on her neck. Little red marks like... from fingers or something. You know, like someone grabbed her neck."

Sara nodded. "And a while ago, at the club. Remember when she was all sleepy and depressed?" They all nodded. "She had a concussion. She said she tripped and fell on the subway, but I didn't believe it then and I still don't."

Chuck scratched his head. "I'm not sure this is related, but has anyone else noticed she's been putting on alot of weight?"

"You know, I DID notice that." Harper said, thinking deeply. "And she dresses differently to cover it up. I don't think it's related, but it still bothers me."

Fei Chan poured a glass for himself. "Any time I ask her about that, she gets all embarrassed. I suppose that's normal though."

Corina took another sip of the wine. "Do you know who the guy is? I mean, at first I thought it was a burglar but it sounded like she knew him..."

"I know exactly who it is." He said darkly. "It's the damn husband. The guy's a raging alcoholic, but she can't stay away from the bastard."

The entire band stared in disbelief. "HUSBAND?!" They all said at once.

"She never told you?"

"Not a word!" Corina said, still in shock. "I heard she had a mysterious boyfriend somewhere, but I never knew she was married!"

Fei Chan shrugged. "Can't imagine why that would be. It's weird though, she's really mysterious about it. Like she was trying to keep it low key..."

"Keep her life personal life out of the tabloids. That actually makes sense..." Corina took another sip of the wine. "Does this raging alcoholic have a name?"

"Richard. Don't recall the last name."

"POWEL!" Sara shouted. "THAT'S who it was on the phone! Dammit, why didn't I remember that voice?!"

"You sure it's the same guy?" Blake said.

Sara read off the long list of Richardisms she had come to despise. "Hopeless romantic? Cheapskate? Hates Zentradi?"

Fei Chan nodded. "That's him alright. Where do you know him from?"

Sara hung her head in embarrassment. "I almost married the son of a bitch!" 

Corina remembered the story of Sara's 'boyfriend from hell', a story Sara had made her swear not to tell anyone else. "Is he the guy you told me about last summer?"

Sara nodded. "There he was, all charming and wonderful, and then... like a week after he proposed to me, the crazy asshole shows up at my place blasted out of his mind and tries to rape me! Blake you were there, you remember that?"

Blake thought it over, but Lieutenant Harper looked up suddenly. "Shit, I remember that! We came by your quarters to drop off that movie we borrowed..."

Blake finished for him, suddenly remembering the day. "...And then we saw this weird looking guy ripping your clothes off, and we bit the shit outa him. Damn Sara, you never said that was your fiance!"

"He was pissed because I called it off! Any time he gets frustrated or upset he goes out drinking and comes back homicidal!"

Chuck drummed his fingers on the table. "What else do you know about him?"

Sara suddenly became very nervous. "After I broke up with him, I went to the police and asked for a background check... ya know, just to see if I should be worried about him coming after me. It turns out he's been married once before."

"What happened to his wife?"

Sara grabbed the wine bottle and refilled her glass, then finished the whole thing in one gulp. "Someone beat her to death with a golf club while he was "Out for a drink." I didn't bother to find out anything else, just went strait to the courthouse and got a restraining order."

Corina rubbed her temples. "And that's guy she's married to. This just keeps getting better..." 

All of them looked around the table with a worried expression. Fei Chan broke the silence after a tense few moments. "No matter what he does to her, she won't leave him. She has too many insecurities..."

"That's true," Corina said, "And telling her this won't really change anything. I'm sure she's figured out what he really is by now."

Sara slammed her fists on the table. "A trojan horse is what he is! He was one of the most charming men I have ever met, but give him a few drinks and he turns into Mike Tyson!"

Harper raised a brow. "Who's Mike Tyson?"

"You know, that boxer guy... oh, forget it."

Fei Chan changed back to the subject at hand. "Well what can we do about it?"

Sara took another large sip of wine. "I'm gonna go call her place and see if she's alright. In the mean time we should try get Misa to talk some sense into her."

Blake shook his head. "Captain's still busy with the refits to the ship. We should go to the police and have the bastard arrested for spousal abuse."

Harper shook his head. "Minmei'd have to press charges for that to work, and under the circumstances I don't think she'll do that." The others nodded in agreement. "What about the Colonel?"

Sara squinted at him. "Hikaru? What could he do other than... maybe shoot the bastard?"

Corina thought of a few ideas, but Chuck had his own plans. "I could get a posse together and ruff him up a bit. Maybe fit him for some cement shoes?"

Harper shook his head. "That would work, but we don't have any cement."

Fei Chan thought for a moment. "We should confront him directly, put him on notice or something..."

"He'd just take it out on her." Blake said dismissively. "There's gotta be something we can do to either wise him up permanently or get her the hell away from him. Cut off one of his fingers or something..."

Corina had an idea. "I might just break his kneecaps with a baseball bat. At the very least that would give us some time to think about it."

Everyone nodded. "That's a really good idea." Said Sara. "But first we should try and talk to Minmei, see if we can get her to think this over with a clear head."

"Right." Corina said. "And today's Tuesday..."

"She works late shifts on Friday." Fei Chan said. "I think she does it to avoid him."

"Friday? Isn't that alittle long to wait?"

Fei Chan laughed "We're on the new callender remember? There's no Wednesday."

"Oh yeah..." Corina said, suddenly remembering. "What time does she usually get off?"

"When we close. Usually about 10:30 or 11:00 PM."

"I'll come in at 10:00 on Friday night and talk to her. You just make sure she doesn't leave early."

"Right."

"I'll talk to Richard before he goes home." Sara said. "He'll listen to me."

Corina shook her head. "You have a restraining order..."

"HE doesn't have one. If he tries anything I can always get him arrested for violating it."

Corina smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "I don't know about you sometimes, Sara. I mean, it was stupid enough to pick a fight with Shikari, but why would you want to mess around with your psychotic rapist of a ex-boyfriend?"

Sara shrugged. "Because I'm a smart aleck, I'm expendable, and nobody likes me."

Harper and Blake both leaned over and kissed her on the cheeks. "That's true." They both said at once.


	25. Chapter 24: Thor's Hammer

****

Chapter 24: Thor's Hammer

--June 22, 2016--

--29:10 GST--

The Phoenix was in cruiser mode now, advancing forward along with a group of 6 destroyers and 2 gunboats, supported by a pair of Zentradi carrier ships. The enemy ships they were going after outnumbered them 2 to one, and they knew they couldn't go after them in a frontal assault. But from his observations in the opening battle, Broli had been able to come up with a very good idea.

Much of the idea itself was Lieutenant Gallows. As the Phoenix's group zeroed in on the enemy formation, Mike had half jokingly pointed out that he felt like the guy from Das Boot as his U-boat searched out the British convoy in stormy weather. Broli himself had seen the movie only once, but from what he remembered of it gave him an inspiration. It also gave him the opportunity to solve two major problems: Ensign Ryder was left handed and having trouble with the ops station, and Mike was itching to command a ship of his own some day. Both problems were solved very easily, Broli promoted both of them and put Mike in command of the Phoenix and moved Amelia to first officer for the duration of the battle. Both of them fell into their new positions seamlessly, and Mike had never seemed happier.

The enemy ships were drawing closer, and the fighter units were ready to launch. The sky was already full of Glaug battlepods and Raulon've fighter pods from the enemy fleet, and the Valkyrie units were getting ready to launch now. Broli was the only pilot on the ship with a VF-4 Lighting, and in this battle he decided to see what it could do. "Viper 100 to Gunsight Two, how you doin up their Amelia?"

Lieutenant Ryder laughed like a kid on Christmas. "Captain, this is REALLY exciting! I can't believe I'm here!"

Broli had felt much the same way, but he had made a point not to show it. "How's Mike?"

"He keeps asking for a periscope." She said chuckling.

Broli's fighter extended from the side of the ship on a docking arm, and now the VF-4 was dangling in space. The locks released the plane after a moment, and now Viper 100 was floating free. "Viper squadron, form on my wing. We'll engage the enemy at Epsilon-9."

"Standing by." Said his wingman, pulling up behind him.

On the bridge of the ship, Mike was covering Amelia's station in the absence of a proper replacement, but everyone knew who was in charge here. "Fire control, gimme a solution on the enemy ships."

Missile control radioed in a moment later. "Bridge, tubes one through 6 armed and ready. Forward lasers locked and charged, we'll be in missile range of the cap ships in 6 minutes."

Mike counted off the number of enemy ships in the formation. There were 23 ships out there, all bearing down on them at full speed as they fired away with beam cannons. They were still too far away to fire missiles on the enemy ships, but Mike wasn't about to get close enough to trade nukes with the enemy cap ships. "This is Gunsight to all ships, fire missiles in sequence. We have to give the fighters cover so they can attack." The destroyers responded and opened their own missile tubes, and the gunships opened their main cannons. "This is Gunsight calling Viper and Thor Squadron, we're standing by."

Broli counted off the numbers of enemy pods closing in on them. They were about 10 kilometers away, and would be in firing range at any second. "I count... at least 3,000 Glaugs and 1,000 fighters. Heading zero-niner-two, three degrees down. relative speed of about Mach 3. Contact in 8 seconds."

Mike loaded the data into the fire control systems and opened a general frequency to all his ships. "Set missiles on spread pattern 2V-1, timed fuse at 12 kilometers! Fire one!" The 11 ships of the fleet all fired their first tube, and Broli's fighter wing switched to gerwalk mode and stopped in space. "Fire two!" The massive nuclear weapons from the first salvo exploded in front of the enemy mecha, vaporizing hundreds of them at once. The second one wasn't far behind, but the Supervision mecha showed no signs of stopping. "Fire three!" Mike shouted as the second barrage exploded, blasting yet another group of enemy pods into dust. In three more waves, the ships of Broli's fleet fired all of their reflex missiles in the tubes into the enemy fighters and pods in an almost constant bombardment. The variable fighters were much faster than any of the Glaugs and fighter pods, and between each round of explosions entire squadrons slipped past the enemy defense line to charge their fleet ships. All of them were armed with RMS-1 anti-warships missiles, and today's mission would be a bombing run, pure and simple.

The warships fired the last of their missiles and now cut loose with their beam cannons. Broli's squadron swooped in on the suddenly unprotected enemy warships as another round of nukes filled the sky behind him, preventing most enemy mecha from following the nimble VFs. On the other hand, Broli's Lighting was leaving the older Valkyries in the dust, and the 6 RMS-1 missiles under his wing were looking for a big target. And then he found one; a pair of battleships in the center of the formation. These two ships were just large enough to support a Supervisionist barrier system, which unlike the rest of the ships they was using as protection from the fighters. "Viper 100 to Gunsight Three and Four, clear me a path to those battle wagons!"

The two gunboats responded through action only. After charging up for a few moments, both of them fired a powerful blast at the two battleships in the center of the formation. One of the beams punched through the barrier and destroyed the ship, but the other massive ship survived the blast and started to fire with its defense lasers. "Open wide baby! Broli's got something for ya!" He swept in past the defense lasers and fired off several blasts from his laser cannons into the forward hull, knocking out a few of the defense turrets near the bow. From there, Broli closed to within a few meters of the ship and skimmed over the hull, much too close for even enemy lasers or missiles to pick him off. The Glaugs and fighter pods, on the other hand, swooped in above him and filled the space around him with laser and particle beams, all failing to hit the Zentradi pilot and instead leaving more damage on their own ship. He ran the length of the ship, cutting and swerving to avoid the enemy pods until he was close enough to his target and fired all six missiles into the bridge tower as he pulled up. All 6 missiles hit the bridge and exploded at once, and the energy from the blast hit the reflex furnace near the main engines and the 3 kilometer warship disappeared behind him in ball of nuclear energy."This is Viper 100, scratch one battle wagon!" Broli switched over to battloid mode and locked onto a few Glaug battlepods that were still following him. Two other squadrons released their ordinance into several smaller ships, and by the time the light from the explosions had faded 4 Glaugs and 2 fighter pods lay in ruins in Broli's wake. Almost one after another, 11 more ships were blow apart by fighter attacks, and the Phoenix and the other warships now took it upon themselves to finish them off.

Of the 6 remaining enemies, 5 of them now put everything they had into the Phoenix. Heavy lasers from both all 5 of the pelted the vessel, ripping huge sections of its armor and sending flames shooting up from within the hull. Broli fought his way through another group of Glaugs, blasting each with his laser cannons on the way to attack the destroyers and draw some heat off the Phoenix, but he could not get close enough and neither could any of the others. "Viper 100 to Gunsight Two, you can't take much more of that! Fall back now! I say again, fall back!"

Mike's voice come up over the radio, laughing even as his ship was slowly blasted to bits. "I'm in command captain! Just watch me!"

Broli started to turn back to the Phoenix, but he knew he would never make it in time. "Dammit Mike, FALL BACK...!" He could see from this great distance that the Phoenix was opening its main cannon and charging up to fire. The other gunships were doing the same, and the destroyers were powering up their main laser cannons.

"Viper Squadron, clear the line of fire immediately!" Mike shouted as the main cannon powered up.

Several beams blasted chunks out of the Phoenix's main cannon, distorting the shape of the twin booms even as they prepared to fire. Somehow the ship remained totally intact until the critical discharge came; all of the destroyers fired a barrage from their forward lasers and P-beam turrets and the Phoenix and the two gunships fired off their main cannons into the center of the enemy formation truly marvelous aim. They were spaced just close far enough to get the ships on the outside, but just close enough not to miss the ones close in. Mike had expected the combined blast to do enough damage for the fighters to finish them, but 6 great explosions in the distance told him the shot had done far more damage than he expected.

After a few short moments of firing, the twin booms of the main cannon started to buckle and warp. Long cracks formed in the hull, and secondary explosions from damaged energy condensers rippled from the inside of the hulls. At almost the same instant the beam cut out, both sections of the main cannon flashed white hot and then exploded, wracking the entire battle fortress from stem to stern. One of the pinpoint barriers moved in front of the observation bubble to protect the bridge from debris, while the other two moved forward to cover the forward particle cannons. 

When the huge fireball in front of the ship faded, the Broli and the fighter squadrons returned to find their ship suddenly a great deal smaller than it was when they launched, with massive pits and scars along the remaining hull and scoring over any part of the ship that hadn't been destroyed.

Broli set his fighter down next to the bridge and entered through an airlock. He arrived on the bridge in full flight suit and walked strait to the front of the room to look over the hull of his ship. He stared out at the now empty space in front of the forward particle turrets for a few moments, then turned around to look at Mike and Amelia, standing side by side, both staring at their feet. "Well what do you have to say for yourselves?"

Mike sighed. "I'm sorry sir. I... I thought maybe."

"Excellent work, Commander Gallows." Broli said, winking. "You won."

Mike looked past Broli where the main cannon had once been. "But I blew up half the ship!"

"And?"

"Well... I mean... isn't that a BAD thing?"

Broli shrugged looked over the damage control boards. "Mike, as long as this ship can still move, it can still fight." He confirmed that the engines and fold drives were still functioning, though the life support systems were failing and the gravity control was holding on by a threat. He checked over the rest of the systems to make sure the ship could still operate and then turned back to them. "But I wouldn't recommend it. Tell all damaged ships to return home. We'll let Karga finish the job."

Mike and Amelia both beamed at him, and resumed their stations. "I'll start making fold calculations right away!" Amelia said, working her station with her right arm.

--32:05 GST--

No one was surprised by Minmei's request that day. They had all seen the bruises, and they all knew, just as Fei Chan knew, that her personal life was slowly destroying her. Whatever she was up to, they all knew they would not be able to talk her out of it, and so all the waiters and cooks in King Lao's Chinese Restaurant said goodbye to Minmei for what they all hoped would not be the last time.

Minmei had only just finished changing clothes for the trip home when Corina pushed the door open and stepped into the employee's washroom. "Hi kid." She said plainly. "King Lao says you quit your job. Is this true?"

Minmei picked up her purse and tried to push past her. "I can't talk now, I'm in a hurry. Sorry..."

Corina grabbed her wrist and pulled her back in. "Why? Is Richard expecting you?"

Minmei looked at her as if she had just been caught stealing. "I have to get home..."

"No you don't, do you?" She said, rolling up the sleeve on Minmei's coat to reveal a half dozen small welts and bruises on her arms. "All you have to do is explain to me why you let him do this to you."

"He's my husband, and he loves me. I know he's going through some hard times right now but we can work through it..."

"Like the last woman who tied the knot?"

Minmei tried to pull away, but Corina held her there. "It wasn't his fault. She got sick and..."

"He beat her to death with a three-iron!" Corina said. Minmei turned away, but Corina turned her to face her again. "Minmei, this isn't a fairy tail. There are people in this world who do bad things to other people and there is nothing we can do about it except stay away from them."

"Corina I can't just walk out on him. It may seem that simple but I really can't do that..."

"Yes you can! You have to!"

Again Minmei turned away, and once again Corina wouldn't let her go. With each passing moment she became more agitated. "It's MY life Corina! You don't know what I'm going through!"

"He's hurting you and you're letting him! Why don't you see that?!"

Minmei jerked away and started down the hall. "What do YOU know?! Broli is a respectable man who treats you like a queen! You have no IDEA what I'm going through!"

Corina caught up to her and grabbed her shoulder. "Then explain to me just why you have to stay with that man!"

"You really wanna know?" Minmei grabbed Corina's hand and placed it on the very slight bulge in her stomach she had been concealing so well under her coat. "Because I'm carrying his child! THAT'S why!"

Corina's face turned pale, and Minmei turned around and stormed out the back door of the restaurant. Still fuming from the conversation, she took the bus home to her apartment and stormed up the stairs, needing desperately to lie down and rest for at least an hour. But when she got to the door of the apartment she saw the hole in the wood from three nights before, when in a drunken rage Richard had actually tried to kill her for the first time. She knew she wasn't really the target of his anger anymore, all of his attention focused on the child inside her now, and if it hadn't been for what she now assumed was Corina's distraction, he would have impaled her through the stomach with that strange hunting weapon a dozen times before he sobered up. Seeing it now was a reminder of the shadow she was now living in, and she entered the apartment slowly and cautiously, now quite sure what awaited her.

The lights were out, and it was almost totally dark inside. The TV was on, but the volume was muted. Minmei looked around her for a moment and saw Richard, sitting on a chair next to the counter resting his head on his elbow but not even half asleep. She approached him carefully and gently put her hand on his shoulder, and he reached around and touched her hand softly. He seemed about ready to say something, but couldn't come up with any words. At long last he turned around and faced her and started to say something, but again was speechless. Minmei already knew what he wanted to say. "I'm not angry with you. I love you and nothing you can do could change that. Now c'mon, I'll fix something to eat."

Minmei moved around the counter into kitchen and turned the lights on. She opened the fridge and started gathering ingredients for dinner when Richard came up behind her. The instant she felt him touch her shoulder, she froze solid, paralyzed with fear. Richard pulled his hand back and leaned against the counter. "I can't even touch you anymore, you're so afraid of me."

Minmei half turned to face him. "I'm sorry, I just..."

"I don't blame you. I tell myself every day "Don't overdo it, Minmei's waiting for you." And then what do I do? I get bombed, and then I come home and I break your fingers."

"It-It's not broken." Minmei said lamely, wiggling three painfully swollen fingers on her left hand. "Look, I don't think I've been fair with you. I've been putting alot of pressure on you that you really don't need... I mean between you worrying about the baby and me asking you to quit your job, and... well I've done nothing but nag since you married me."

Richard shook his head. "I don't want you blaming yourself for this. I almost killed you and I have no idea why. It's not your fault."

Minmei turned around and went back to preparing dinner. She started chopping celery on the board, and filled a pot with water for soup. "I can... I'd be willing to consider..."

Richard knew what she was trying to say; it was one of the many things he frequently babbled on about in his drunken stupors that made him ashamed to look in the mirror every morning. "If I made you have an abortion, I'd never forgive myself. I know how you feel about this, and it's something I could never ask you to do."

"But you're... you're so upset about this, we have to do something."

Richard walked up next to her, and this time Minmei let herself relax. "You were right all along. All we need to do is think of a name for the baby." Minmei put the pot of water on the stove and heated it up. Richard reached up and started rubbing her shoulders and again she froze. "I won't hurt you."

"I know..." Minmei turned around slowly, almost afraid to move. "But... I..." she was facing him now, but some newly acquired instinct prevented her from looking at his eyes. She found herself staring at her own stomach, which she noticed again was beginning to round out much earlier than it probably should have. Richard kissed her on the forehead, and from some mysterious impulse Minmei started to cry. "Richard... if I... what if..."

"Don't do ANYTHING Mei!" He said, kissing her cheeks. "It's MY problem, I have to deal with it. I'm gonna learn how to control myself if it kills me!"

Minmei looked up at his eyes at last, then threw her arms around him and cried into his shirt. "I love you Richard. I'll help you through this, I promise!"

--July 2, 2016--

--15:30 GST--

It was a grand undertaking indeed. Shikari's 2nd Advanced Fleet was waiting in space over the 6th planet of the Mishalla system, lined up to do battle with the Supervision fleet that at any minute would defold right into their guns. 200 destroyers and carriers were standing by in formation, and hiding in the asteroids on either flank were more than a hundred Zentradi gunships, all waiting with reactors charged. On the battleship Karatsul, Shikari looked over the holographic screens in front of the bridge bubble and made sure everything was in position. It would all go as they expected, or so she hoped. All of the Regults from the male ships had been replaced with VF-4 Lightings, but Shikari's meltran pilots had no need for replacements; the Queadlunn-Rau powered armors were good enough for them, and thanks to the manufacturing abilities of the factory satellite, her fleet now had thousands more of these machines ready for deployment. What worried her, however, were the 1500 pilots that had come with them from Megaroad. The marines of the SDF-2, some former destroid pilots and others merely macronized riflemen had little to no experience in space or mecha combat. As much as she hated to admit it, Shikari was expecting all of the Earthling soldiers to be wiped out in the operation, though more than anything she hoped for the best.

The first ships to defold into the area was a destroyer group. At first, they came in a few at a time, which gave the gunners on the Zentradi ships enough time to destroy them before new ships could arrive. And then they started folding into the space in swarms, first in groups of 20 or 30, then a hundred at a time. In minutes, there were almost a thousand enemy ships here, which was exactly what Shikari expected. "All ships continue attack. Stay out of range of those missiles as long as possible!"

Shikari's radar officer called in from bellow the bridge. "General, enemy vessels moving forward. They'll be in firing range in 30 seconds."

"How long until they're close enough to the gunships?"

"Ten seconds sir!"

Shikari looked at the monitor and picked a target. "Open the main cannon! Target the battleship to the front of the formation. Tell all gunships to target larger enemy vessels only!"

The gunnery officer sounded confused. "What are you planning General?" She said nervously.

Shikari counted down. Just a few more seconds... "Kaalcha informed us that some of the larger ships have an omni-directional force field. They have to be destroyed first." It was time. The enemy fleet was now moving right into her ambush. "Main cannons, set your targets and fire!"

A group of more than 100 Zentradi gunships scattered throughout the nearby asteroid field emerged from concealment and opened fire with their main cannons. The blast from the ships crushed each of their targets, battleships and heavy cruisers and carrier vessels. 250 ships vanished in explosions, and the Zentradi gunners now charged up for a second barrage. The lasers and particle cannons along the hulls of the Zentradi ships now fired away with everything they had, blocking enemy beams with pinpoint barriers as the battle went on. Shikari knew she was still outnumbered three to one, but it was time to move on to phase two. "This is Delta to Thor's Hammer, commence operation immediately."

On the bridge of the Thor, General Hallas took a deep breath. "Thor's Hammer, commencing operation." The little protoculture ship waited in the asteroids for a few moments, and then the gunships fired off another barrage. As the beams from the Zentradi ships cut through the enemy fleet, the SDD-01 burst from the cover of the debris field and quickly fell into formation with one of the Supervision Army battleships and began firing with its particle beams at the Zentradi. General Hallas was nervous; it was only a matter of time before the enemy fleet figured out that they were an imposter, but it all depended on weather or not they would have enough time to carry out their mission. "Barrier control, how much longer?"

The three engineers in the barrier control room called up to the bridge quite short of breath. "We're almost there sir! The modifications will be completed any second!"

Thor's particle guns fired another salvo at the Zentradi, but he could already tell that the Supervision Army ships around them were scanning his vessel with their sensors in mild confusion. He didn't want to jump the gun, but he didn't feel like he had a choice. "All fighters launch NOW!" The airlock hatches on the side of the ship opened and a hundred VF-4 Lightings burst out of the ship's hold, followed by 500 Zentradi powered armors. The ships around them didn't understand what was happening at first, but when the Thor fired all 18 of its reflex missile tubes into the space around them they figured it out quickly enough. 12 enemy ships took hits from the missiles and exploded, and at almost the same moment the others took aim with their own cannons the crew in the barrier control room completed the modifications to the barrier and threw the switch.

The bombardment from hundreds of enemy vessels crashed against the barrier system from all directions, but the barrier absorbed all of the beams with little to no damage. Hallas was satisfied that it was working, but he was worried about what would happen when the barrier finally overloaded. Misa had told him exactly what to expect, and exactly how the barrier would build up to critical mass, but it still made him very nervous to sit there defenseless while hundreds of ships hammered away at him from all sides.

Meanwhile, the powered armors and the fighters shot through space at full speed, not even bothering to engage enemy mecha and deviating from their course only to dodge enemy missiles. They quickly located their target and swarmed in on it: a Supervision Army gunboat near the command ship. The Queadlunn-Rau powered armors arrived first, followed by the VF-4s half a second later and the Queajadeul-Ger male powered armors brought up the rear to cover them. Kai Chan used the impact cannon on his chest to knock out the ship's communication towers while the Lighting fighters used spreads of medium missiles to blast holes in the gunboat's hull. The VF-4s and the female powered armors now slipped inside while the male powered armors covered them from the outside. Everywhere he looked, Kai Chan was surrounded by enemy mecha. Glaugs, fighter pods, powered armors... all firing at him and his men from all directions as they covered the entrance. Finally, the last of the fighters and battlepods entered the ship, and Kai Chan and his comrades moved inside to use the hull as cover. The ship's outer hull was lightly armored and not very sturdy, but he knew that once they took it back to Gallaron that would quickly change. He peaked his head out of the opening and blasted a Glaug with his shoulder cannon and then ducked back inside as his companions returned fire. "Chan to Beecher, hurry up girl!"

Private Beecher and two squads of female powered armors were blasting their way through the corridors of the ship, spraying everything inside with the triple beam guns on their forearms. "We've secured the macron block! All that's left is the command section!"

Lieutenant Harper's VF-4 came up next to Beecher and located a small hatch on the wall. "I'm goin for it! All squadrons set your fighters down and follow me! We'll take the bridge before Thor's barrier goes up!"

Harper set his fighter down in Gerwalk mode and leapt out of the cockpit with a rifle in his hands. 50 Lighting pilots followed him, and all of them dashed down the micron-scale corridors of the ship to get to the bridge. "Hurry up people! We don't have much time!" Several micronian troops appeared in the passageway in front of them, and the fighter pilots opened fire with their rifles as they ran.

Out in space, the Zentradi gunboats were now taking direct fire from the enemy fleet. Half of them had been disabled or destroyed, but the others were making good use of both their pinpoint barriers and the reflex barriers against the enemy. They fired off another barrage at the enemy fleet, this one not as coordinated and only destroyed a few dozen vessels. Shikari's battleship exchanged a broadside with a pair of cruisers for several minutes, soaking up their damage with her pinpoint barriers and returning fire with medium missiles and particle cannons. "Gunnery control, full power barrage! Concentrate fire on the middle one!" The gunners did so, and the particle cannons bombarded the enemy ship until it's cannons stopped firing altogether. The crippled ship fell back behind the others, but the other ships fired a spread of medium missiles into the side of the battleship. Shikari growled as some of the aft compartments reported damage, and then looked at Thor's Hammer, drifting out in space as almost a hundred ships pounded it with beams and missiles. "This is Delta calling Thor's Hammer, status report!"

General Hallas was sweating bullets on the bridge. "The barrier's building up to an overload! Only a few more minutes!"

A Supervision Army gunboat fired a blast at Shikari's ship, striking down a destroyer in the line of fire before impacting against the Karatsul's reflex barrier. Shikari lost her footing and collapsed to the deck cursing under her breath. "Damned machines...!" She said, cursing the barrier system on SDD-01.

And then a voice from behind the enemy fleet changed her mood. "This is Snatch Leader to Delta Two, target secured! We're preparing to fire!"

Shikari recognized the voice; it was the micronian she had met on the factory satellite, the one who had flirted with her before the meeting with General Hallas. "Lieutenant Harper, fire one blast at the enemy command ship and then get the hell out of there!"

On the now captured bridge of the gunboat, Harper smiled. "You heard the lady! Power up fold drives and get ready to scram!"

"Roger!" Said the pilot at the ops station, standing in a pool of blood from the protoculture officer he had just decapitated. "Fold system ready!"

"Open main cannon and target command ship!"

The twin booms of the gunboat's cannon parted and the ship turned towards the wishbone-shaped command vessel in the center of the formation. None of the other Supervision Vessels knew what the ship was about to do, but they were about to find out. "Main cannon FIRE!" The twin booms flickered red and fired a devastating blast at the enemy ship, striking its barrier system just in front of the main engines. The blast from the cannon destroyed the force field completely, but did not have enough energy left to do enough damage to the ship. This was disappointing, but Harper knew it wouldn't survive the surprise Hallas had in store for it. "Get us the hell outa here!" He shouted as the Supervision fleet took aim.

The gunboat re-folded out of the system an instant before a cloud of reflex missiles would have blown it to bits. At almost the same time, a chain reaction started to surge through the energy field of the Superdimensional Destroyer Thor's Hammer. "It's reaching critical mass!!" Hallas's ops officer shouted.

Hallas opened a radio frequency to the Zentradi fleet as quickly as he could. "This is Hallas to all ships, barrier overload! Repeat, barrier overload! Get the hell out of there!"

Shikari didn't need to be told twice, and the fighters had been waiting for the call since the ship entered the enemy formation. All of the powered armors and VF-4 Lighting fighters set down on the hull of the nearest ship they could find at just as ships started to fold out of the area. Shikari waited for most of her fleet to leave the system and picked up a few of the remaining mecha just as Thor's barrier field exploded. "Fold drive! Move it!" The battleship Karatsul vanished into a hyperspace fold just before the energy wave would have smashed into it, but the Supervision ships were not so lucky. The entire fleet had been caught off guard by the energy wave, a few of them managing to move to a safer distance but most of them were vaporized a blow away by the destruction wave. The enemy command ship, no longer protected by it's barrier system, was hit by the energy wave and ripped apart by the energy, followed by all of the battleships nearby.

The energy wave soon engulfed the entire formation of enemy ships and destroyed every one of them, and when it faded only one ship remained; the damaged and badly irradiated hull of SDD-01, Thor's Hammer. On the bridge of the protoculture destroyer, General Hallas sat back in his seat and breathed long sigh of relief. "Helm, make fold calculations to rendezvous with the 2nd Fleet."

The helmsman nodded back. "Course already plotted sir."

Hallas looked out the windows of the bridge one last time. "Let's go home."

"Yes sir!" The protoculture destroyer vanished into a hyperspace fold, leaving the Mishalla system now totally lifeless. The broken hulls of a thousand Supervision Army ships littered the space around the 6th planet, scattered over an area of almost 50,000 kilometers. Some would think it strange the way something so accidental... namely the flaw in the barrier system of the SDF-1... could have lead to the development of such a powerful weapon. Even despite the irony of the situation, the defenders of Gallaron knew not to get their hops up. The Supervision Army wasn't likely to fall for the same trick twice.

___________________________________________________________________

****

Author's Note:

The first Tech files for this fanfic are in the works as we speak. First completed are the stats for the destroyer **_Thor's Hammer,_** now available from Newtype Alpha Productions! FYI, this is just the beginning. **_Phoenix Class Superdmiensional battlecruiser_** coming soon! 

http://www.angelfire.com/gundam/newtype_alpha/macross_tech.htm


	26. Chapter 25: The War Cloud

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Chapter 25: The War Cloud

--July 3, 2016--

--07:40 GST--

What was left of the Phoenix and 60 other vessels folded into Gallaron orbit near Alpha Factory very early in the morning. Corina's shuttle arrived at the factory only a few minutes after the ships arrived, and now she was standing in the space harbor block of the main pod where the ships were scheduled to dock. When the massive doors opened to allow the ships entry into the facilities, everyone stared in amazement. The Phoenix itself was a floating wreck; both of the main cannons were missing and one of the impulse drives was on fire. It was holding the left grappler module in it's right hand, and a number of variable fighters were actually standing on the hull as the fighter bays had all been destroyed in battle. It was truly amazing to think that this ship could was even intact, and when it entered the pressurized block of the harbor observers could see smoke rising up from various points around the vessel.

The crew of the Phoenix, the majority of which were Zentradi, spilled out of the ship's docking ports and flowed across the tunnels to the relative safety of the factory block before their ship exploded behind them. Corina didn't mind waiting, the wooden figure of the Phoenix was safe and sound on her shelf. The last people off the ship were Commander Mike Gallows and Lieutenant Amelia Ryder, arm still in a sling. And then there was Broli, 6 feet 11 inches of Zentradi officer come home once again. "Kitten." He said, walking out of the boarding tunnel. "I told I'd be back."

Corina ran up and threw her arms around him. "You jerk! What took you so long?!"

Broli stroked her hair with his hand, almost swept away by the notion of holding her again. He hadn't even known how much he'd missed her until the moment he walked off the ship. "We'd still be out there if the Phoenix was in better shape. We only got about half their fleet and the others scattered. Karga's gonna have to finish them before they get away."

Corina looked up at him. "I know. The Golgrono left last night with an entire fleet." She started walking towards the docking port where the Megaroad waited, arm in arm with the grinning Zentradi officer. "By the way, Shikari's fleet brought in a new battle fortress."

Broli paused in the passageway. "Really? How's Shikari doing these days?"

Corina looked up suddenly. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason." Broli shrugged. They stopped at a slot in the wall of the massive passageway where a human-sized hover disk waited for them, and the two of them stepped on for the rest of the way back to the ship. They stood in silence for a most of the trip, and Broli began to notice Corina seemed a bit less energetic than usual. "What's wrong? Has something happened?"

Corina looked up at him, and then looked at her feet. "It's Minmei."

"What about her?" Broli said, remembering the pretty little woman with the beautiful voice Corina always hung out with.

"She got married."

"Really?" Broli said, suddenly more interested. Then again, he noticed Corina's mood to be a bit of a puzzle. "I thought that's supposed to be a good thing. What's got you so depressed?"

"Because of the man she's married to... he's abusive."

"Of what?" Broli said, not grasping the human context of the word.

Corina looked at Broli's face with tears in her eyes. "Broli, she's pregnant, and her husband beats the shit outa her every other night!"

Broli looked at Corina suddenly very confused. "I don't understand. What did she do to him?"

"She doesn't do anything! He's a drunk, he can't control himself! He has too much to drink and he looses his temper and then he just starts beating her..."

Broli's head started to hurt. "Kitten, you're not making any sense. People don't get married so they can fight each other... at least I don't think they do. After all, if they're married, aren't they supposed to love each other?"

"She DOES love him, and he probably loves her too..."

"Then what the hell is the point of attacking her? I mean... well I'm not as smart as Shikari or Varcus, but that's... that goes against everything I have come to understand about human culture!"

Corina leaned against her and rested her head against his chest. "You're right. It's totally wrong, it's the exact opposite of what's supposed to happen. But it happens like that sometimes, a husband looses control of his temper and takes it out on his wife or his children..."

This opened a new door for Broli. He knew his own strength, and he though he never imagined doing so he knew he could easily break Corina in half with the slightest effort. The idea of hurting someone you love was almost as foreign to him as love itself had once been, and the idea worried him. "Kitten, what if... what causes a man to loose control like that? I mean... what would happen if I lost control of myself..."

Corina shook her head slowly. "You're a warrior, Broli. You know the time and the place for violence better than most people. I know you'd never hurt me like that." The hover disk came to rest near the docking port next to the Megaroad's dry dock, and Corina and Broli walked the rest of the way into the ship. "You wanna see where I put that your little ship?"

"I would, but I think we'll be too busy." Broli said plainly.

Corina looked at her watch. "Busy? We've got 12 hours before either of us need to be anywhere."

"12 hours huh?" Broli's lip curled in a mischievous grin. "We've got alot of catching up to do. Is that gonna be enough time?"

Corina giggled. "Easy there big fella! I'm delicate, you have to be gentle."

Broli grabbed her wrist and lifted her off the ground, cradling her in his arms for the rest of the way back to Corina's quarters. "As you wish Kitten."

--15:45 GST--

Her day off served her well. Misa had gotten so used to supervising the refit of the Megaroad that she had actually started seeing the great hull of the ship in her nightmares. She couldn't even think of the last time she took a moment to walk around on Megaroad city, but when she got back to her house she found Hikaru and Miko had both gone out somewhere. Once again, she thought back on the last few weeks and realized suddenly that she had not seen her husband or her daughter in almost a month, though with the amount of work they'd both had it seemed like only a few days. Not even when the Megaroad passed New Eden on its way out into space had Misa ever been separated from her family for so long, and at this time she was infinitely distressed at their absence from the house.

Feeling a sudden weight on her shoulders, Misa climbed the stairs to the second floor and pushed the windows open in their bedroom to climb up onto the rooftop. She sat down on the little mat Hikaru had nailed to the shingles for just such an occasion and stared up into the sky. The sun was directly overhead, beating down on the city with its heat, but somehow the air was as cool as early morning. Korazan and Varcus had discovered that thanks to Gallaron's large size and its three moons, the seasons of the northern continent were relatively mild, even compared to other places on the planet. This, Misa remembered, was actually one of the coldest days of the Gallaron winter. She started to wonder what summer was like...

A shadow moved across the rooftop, followed by the roar of a jet engine at full afterburner. Misa shielded her eyes from the sun to see a VF-4 Lighting-III fly overhead at high speed, then banked sharply and pulled off a high-G turn in the air. Misa watched the plane darting around in the sky and thought of Hikaru, the man she wanted more than anything to see, and Miko, the child she wanted more than anything to hold in her arms before she vaulted off the roof some day. Something about the way the plane danced around in the sky made her think of Hikaru AND Miko; the strange, far out look they both had whenever they looked at airplanes, the way neither one of them were ever content to sit still for any amount of time, the way both of them ran and chased after each other in the yard, as if at any minute a strong breeze would lift them off the ground and they would fly away. Misa had seen it since Miko was just a baby; appearances aside, she was her father's child. 

She thought to go off looking for Hikaru and Miko to see where they went, but then taking another look at the plane darting through the air it suddenly occurred to her where they both must have been. She slipped back inside the house and walked up the stairs to the attic where Hikaru kept an old radio "in case of emergencies." She decided this was something that couldn't wait. "Attention all planes, air raid warning over Megaroad City! Shoot down Skull Zero! I repeat, shoot down Skull Zero!"

Hikaru and Miko both laughed over the static. "Oh very funny! When'd you get back?"

"15 minutes ago." She said, looking out the attic window. "I should've known I'd have to drag you out of the air. You just can't seem to keep your feet on the ground can you?"

Hikaru laughed, and then turned up the volume on Miko's radio. "Hi mommy!"

"Hi there Miko! You having fun?"

"Daddy and me are fighting the monsters!" She said laughing again.

Misa looked out the window to see the plane fly another loop around the sky. "Hikaru, how long have you been up there?"

"About... I don't know. At least an hour."

Misa sighed. It wouldn't have surprised her if he'd been up there for three days. "You wanna set it down some time so I can see my family?"

"Just a minute old lady..." Misa shut off the radio and walked back down and out the window to the roof. She saw the fighter fly over the house one last time, and then in a flash it transformed to gerwalk mode and stopped in mid air. Now, slowly but less than carefully, the VF-4 Lightning descended to the street next to the Ichijo house and moved in front of the rooftop. Hikaru turned the plane and rested the nose of the fighter on top of the roof and opened the canopy, and Miko leapt out of the pilots seat and into her mother's arms, squealing with excitement. Hikaru climbed out after her and kissed her on the cheek. "Finally took a vacation, huh?"

Misa laughed. "I sure picked an odd time for it, didn't I? Broli's fleet came back from Zjen-Kari in pieces, and Karga left last night to reinforce them. And Shikari's trying to set up an outer defense line in the Mishalla system..."

"Jesus Misa! Are you home or not?!" Hikaru said, putting his hands on his hips.

Misa sighed. "Okay, no business. But you of all people know how much trouble we're in."

Hikaru nodded. "I know. If you wanna talk business there's only one thing we should discuss." He put his hand on her back and started to lead Misa off the roof into the house, still carrying Miko in her arms.

"And that is?" Misa started walking down the stairs in front of him, but looked up as Hikaru did not follow her. "Hikaru?"

"I want to take Miko out of this city."

Misa paused and set Miko down on the steps bellow her, then turned to face Hikaru. "Take her where?"

"SDF-04 is almost completed. I want to take her up there where we can protect her..."

Misa was about to say no, but then she looked at Miko again still sitting on the stairs. "Away from potential targets?"

"That's right. I want to get her as far away from this planet as possible. I don't want to leave her on the factory satellite, because again it's just one big target..."

"And SDF-2 will be a major battleship and will draw alot of fire."

"Exactly."

Misa reached down to pick Miko up off the stairs, but found the girl had already run off somewhere else in the house. "I assume you know I need more commanders."

Hikaru nodded. "That's why I'm taking Miko with me. We might be gone for months or maybe even years. If I take command of SDF-04, at least I can think of excuses to come and see you."

Misa walked down the stairs just in time to hear dull thud on the ground as the running Miko tripped over the same lump in the carpet once again. "No more business. Let's just relax for today, okay?"

Hikaru walked up beside her at the bottom of the stairs and put his arm around her waist. Both of them watched Miko running around in circles in the living room, pretending once again that she was flying.

--20:30 GST--

The reports from the front were far less than encouraging. Lacul had committed just over half of his forces, 2000 ships in all, to attack and destroy the planet Gallaron. The larger of the three attack groups had been completely wiped out shortly after contact with the enemy, and the smaller group near the Berren system had lost more than half of their fleet to enemy ships along with most of their reinforcements. What frustrated him was the manner in which the GSDF was fighting him. They were using some of that very same ancient technology he so desperately needed, the same technology hidden away on the planet Gallaron. The new barrier systems used on the Gallaron ships could be mounted on just about anything bigger than a battlepod, and could take more punishment than the antique system from the Schism War. To make matters worse, the third group he'd sent to the Mishalla system had encountered what appeared to be an enemy forward defense line and for some reason they could no penetrate it. Things just kept getting worse.

Lacul heard footsteps from the catwalk around his knees. He looked over to see Kraken walking around in front of him with a data module, obviously more bad news. "What is it this time Kraken?"

"Our courier ships have finally cleared the spatial cratering of the Arturo sector. They have made contact with friendly units nearby, but they report that they are passing through rough space and are still several weeks away."

Lacul cursed under his breath. By the time his reinforcements could arrive, Gallaron would be too strong for them to move against them. Failing to capture the planet by now was costing him more and more in resources every minute. "Kraken, send the courier ships farther out into space. Have them join with the other Supervision Fleets and act as a communication line between us."

Kraken nodded. "Yes my lord, but there's one other thing I think you should see." He slipped the data module into the computer and an image appeared on the holographic monitor in front of him showing a large, Earthlike planet 22,000 kilometers in diameter. "Our forces in the Kaladan system have discovered an unidentified object on the 4th planet. We do not know what it is, but we believe it may have origins with the protoculture." The image shifted to a cylindrical object almost 3 kilometers long with two large rings on either end, floating in space among several Supervisionist warships. "We believe it to be some kind of space craft..."

"NO!" Lacul stood up from his chair, almost crushing the catwalk with the force of his enormous overgrown body. "A FOLD WEAPON!"

"A fold weapon?" Kraken said. "I've never heard of it."

"I'm don't imagine you have. The fold weapon is the ultimate weapon of mass destruction. It destroys entire sections of hyperspace, causing normal matter over a given area to cease to exist and creating a powerful gravity wave. I never thought I'd actually see one intact!"

Kraken called up the schematic of the scan data from the device. "Is it anything like the device we think is on Gallaron?"

Lacul shook his head and sat back down on his chair, causing the entire ship to vibrate for many kilometers. "This device appears to be a smaller version of the weapon, probably less powerful but still just as effective." An idea started to form in the protodeviln's mind. This kind of device was one of a kind and difficult to produce, then again the facilities of his Fulbtz-Berrenz command base were more than up to the job. "Have that fold weapon brought hear at once for study. It might be possible to produce additional units for use against the Gallaron army." Kraken acknowledged and started to head back to the com room, but Lacul stopped him with his massive hand. "And one more thing. Get the navigational data from the micronian ships and start making fold calculations for the planet Earth. We need their factory satellite in order to continue this war."

Kraken nodded. "As you wish my lord. Will you destroy the planet or capture the inhabitants?"

"Capture them, of course." Lacul said smirking. "We'll be needing more soldiers to operate our ships once we have the new factory."

--July 8, 1016--

--27:40--

It was truly a strange thing to see Lao Fei Chan eating in his own restaurant, but he took pride in his business and he knew he could trust his own cooks not to poison his food to remove competition. Aside from that, anything they ordered was free. It was one of the many luxuries of being King Lao. Kai Chan and Fei Hong were at the table with him, all of them as usual ordering almost the exact same thing with one or two twists. "Royal noodle special with two eggs." said Fei Chan.

"Same thing, only with one egg and a wonton." Said Fei Hong.

"Same thing, only with two eggs and shrimp." said Kai Chan. The waitress wrote it all down and took their drink orders... Pepsi, Pepsi and diet Pepsi... and went off in the kitchen to fill the order. Kai Chan looked around the restaurant while he waited for the food. "You really fixed this place up, Fei Chan." He said, impressed. "Last time I was here, there were more rats than people."

"That rats WERE the people. We just stopped getting ugly customers." Fei Chan snickered.

Fei Hong found himself looking around, noticing something very different. "Where's Minmei? She working tonight?"

Fei Chan shook his head. "She quit."

"What?! Why?!"

Fei Chan didn't want to bring his brothers down at a time like this, especially with Kai Chan being off duty and back to small size for the first time in two weeks, but Fei Hong was a die-hard Minmei fan. "Remember I told you about her husband?"

"The big secret? Yeah, I remember."

"He almost killed her the other night."

Fei Hong turned pale, and Kai Chan stared at him in disbelief. "What was he doing?"

"Nothing really, he just got alittle drunk. He almost skewered Commander Matheson with a protoculture weapon."

Kai Chan rubbed his fingers through his hair. "Well... I guess these things happen, I mean sometimes we all get a little tipsy and..."

"It's not the first time." Fei Chan said, lowering his voice. "I don't know how long it's been going on, but Minmei was coming in almost every day with bruises before she quit."

Kai Chan sighed and sank into his chair, and Fei Hong gave it more thought. "Why doesn't she just leave him?"

"She's pregnant."

The entire table jumped as Kai Chan's knee jerked underneath it. "Wha.... pregnant?! Are you shittin me?!"

Fei Chan shook his head. "Don't get all worked up about this Kai. It'll work out for the best."

"The hell it will! Where does she live?!"

Fei Hong put his hand on his shoulder. "Easy Kai..."

"Where does she live?!" He repeated slowly.

Fei Chan sighed. "213, Galaxy Boulevard. Apartment 504"

Kai Chan stood up from the table to leave, but Fei Hong grabbed his sleeve and pulled hi back down. "Knock it off, hero. You'll just get her into more trouble." The waitress returned with their food and Fei Chan passed out the plates of noodles.

"I can't just sit here while she...!"

"What're you gonna do, beat the shit outa the guy, kidnap Minmei and keep her chained up in your locker?" Kai Chan started up again, but Fei Hong pulled him back down again. "Don't be an idiot. Sit down and eat your noodles." Kai Chan reluctantly sat back down and started to eat, not realizing until then just how hungry he was. "I know it sucks but there's nothing we can do about it. Why are YOU so worked up about this anyway?"

"Why not?" Kai Chan said, scooping up his noodles. "She's a nice person. I don't like to see bad things happen to good people. That's one of the reasons I joined the marines."

Fei Chan nodded. "I know how you feel. The only thing we can really do is hope she comes to her senses and walks out on him... and of course I've got the girls to keep calling her to make sure she's alright."

Kai Chan swallowed a mouthful of noodles. "What's the number?"

"555-stay out of it." Fei Chan said. 

Kai Chan found it hard to swallow the idea of standing by while someone hurt Minmei, even though he was probably the one person at the table who had the least amount of interest in her. From what little he'd seen of her she seemed like a very nice person, and the idea of such a kind hearted individual in that kind of trouble deeply disturbed him. But he knew his brothers were right about there not being anything he could do about it. Under the circumstances, the best thing was to try and ride it out, but to be ready to jump in if things too a turn for the worst.

Eventually, the Three Kings finished their noodles and the waitress returned from the kitchen as if by magic. "You want desert boss?" She said.

"You still have those sugar cookies?" Fei Hong said hopefully.

"Sure do."

"I'll take one, with almonds and raisins." Fei Hong said.

"I'll take two with almonds and M&Ms." Fei Chan said.

"I'll take one with raisins and M&Ms." Kai Chan said. "And some fortune cookies with that."

The waitress stared at all three of them for a long moment, then gave up on trying to figure them out and started to walk back to the kitchen.

--29:30--

The book Richard had bought her from the store made for interesting reading. 247 pages describing in detail all the weird things that happens to a woman in the 12 months after conception, psychologically, emotionally and even physically. Minmei had never imagined having a baby was so complicated, and she only hoped she could remember all the things she was seeing in the text. On the other hand, she reminded herself, since she had the books on hand, all she had to do was look it up if she needed to know about something.

She had been so engrossed in the book she hadn't even noticed the door open and Richard slip inside with a bag of groceries, but she did notice suddenly when something soft slipped in between her lips. "Wha... Richard!"

"What do you think?" He said, holding a baby bottle in his hand. "I did good?"

Minmei looked at the bottle for a few moments, not sure what to make of this. "Did you go shopping?"

Richard nodded and gestured to the bags on the counter. "Just picking up things for the baby. Some toys and stuff..."

"You should wait until we know it it's a boy or a girl." She said, standing up to examine his purchases. When she looked through one bag she found almost a hundred dollars worth of baby toys and a pair of pacifiers, and in the other bag she found almost a hundred dollars worth of power tools. "Ummm.... like I said," she pulled an electric drill out of the bag and looked at it. "You might want to wait."

Richard laughed and walked over to the door. "I got this too." He opened the door and pulled a large cardboard box into the room and started to open it.

"What is it?"

"Look." He pulled the top off and started to pull out the wooden parts of a baby's crib. "I'm thinking we'll clean out that extra room we never use and make it the baby's room."

"That's a great idea." Minmei looked through the third bag and started to put the food in the fridge. There wasn't much, she already had everything they needed for the weeks, and for a change Minmei was delighted to see that he hadn't picked up any more alcohol on the way home. "I know I shouldn't be bringing this up, but I'm getting alittle worried."

"About what Mei?"

Minmei closed the fridge and put the cans on the shelf over the stove. "All this war. I heard some of the soldiers talking and they say even though we've been doing really well so far, the enemy's still alot more powerful."

Richard shrugged. "I heard that too. Actually, I think it's the first time I've ever had any interest in anything a Zentradi had to say. My manager was telling me all about it."

"What'd he say?"

Richard sat down on the couch and Minmei came out of the kitchen and sat down next to him. "He said the people who created the Zentradi, the protoculture, also created another more powerful kind of soldier even bigger than the Zentradi called the Ehvil. The Ehvil soldiers ended up being possessed by some kind of demons and then they went around swallowing up the spirits of people and Zentradi all over the galaxy and turning them into slaves. The demons were called Protodeviln, and their slaves became the Supervision Army."

Minmei thought about this for a long time. "You know, that sounds like an old legend I heard when I was a little kid..."

"Yeah, I know. It sounded to me like some kind of Zentradi superstition, but then when you think about it, it makes alot of sense. I mean the Supervision Army is obviously real, and the protoculture are even more superstitious than the Zentradi."

Minmei raised a brow. "How do you know that?"

Richard grinned. "You're not the only one who's been studying. There's half a million people living in the old city who only speak Zentradi, so I've picked up a few phrases over the past few weeks."

"Is that so?" Minmei turned on the TV and kept the volume down. "Honestly though, I'm getting really worried. We keep having these air-raid drills almost every day, and they've started taking volunteers with the ground defense forces to help the protocrans install defense systems around the city."

Richard nodded. "I saw them putting a new particle cannon under a sliding hatch down the street from the office. They're turning the city into a fortress."

Minmei paused on one of the news stations that was broadcasting news about the latest battles in space. General Karga's 3rd fleet was still fighting the enemy at Zjen-Kari, and Broli's 1st fleet was limping back to Gallaron in a steady trickle as what few ships were still in the battle field took damage. No matter how many enemies they destroyed, there always seemed to be more lined up behind them. "What if the enemy invaded the city?"

Richard chuckled. "I'd whip out a bottle of vodka and move in with them."

Minmei rolled her eyes. "I'm serious Rich. The way things are going, what would happen if they invaded the city and captured us?"

In the many months he'd been living with Minmei, Richard had long ago noticed that Minmei rarely actually said what was on her mind, and through trial and error he had learned not to pry deeper into her thoughts than she would freely allow him. In this case, however, curiosity got the best of him, as per Minmei's design. "What are you thinking about? You want me to join the defense forces?"

"No..." Once again, Minmei thought back to the Macross, and that one and only time she had used her voice as a weapon. It sickened her whenever she remembered her part in the holocaust of two races, but like so many others she felt history repeating itself. "You know, I kinda participated in the Space War."

Richard shrugged. "Doesn't surprise me. Come to think of it I'd be surprised if EVERYONE on Macross didn't get their hands dirty considering all you people had to go through."

"That's true, but I had a more... central role."

Richard looked at her surprised. "You were a soldier?"

"No, nothing like that. But I'm wondering now if the GSDF couldn't use a hand."

Richard snickered. "Yeah right. YOU joining the defense forces?"

"Hell no! I wouldn't even survive the training!" Minmei said giggling. "Besides, I'm not cut out for all that violence anyway. I'd just like to help them, maybe entertain the soldiers or help the medics or something."

Richard gave this some thought. "You know, that's a pretty good idea. If anything it would give me a reason to dry up."

Minmei smiled brightly and hugged him. "Great! This Saturday we'll go over to the GDF headquarters and see..."

"New calendar, remember. There are no Saturdays."

Minmei laughed. "Oh that's right! Sunday then, we'll go down to the GDF headquarters and we'll see if there's anything we can help them with."

"Sunday it is." Richard kissed her and grabbed the remote to turn off the TV. "Let's move all this stuff into the baby's room. We'll work on it later."

"Okay." Minmei stood up from the couch along with Richard, and they started packing the baby toys and the parts for the crib back into the cardboard box. Minmei hadn't been this excited in years, even despite the uncertainty of her new plans. She was certain he would be uncomfortable with the idea, and perhaps even a little upset at first, but in their situation it was almost her only choice. After all, not too many men would think twice about being Lynn Minmei's manager, weather they'd heard of her or not. And as far as Richard was concerned, she wasn't actually coming out of retirement but actually starting a glamorous new career.


	27. Chapter 26: The Siege

****

Chapter 26: The Siege

--July 10, 2016--

--25:01 GST--

Shantys: one of those low key, low class bars where lost men dropped in with the singular goal of drinking themselves stupid and going home to pass out. The bartender there was under instruction to eject patrons only if they appeared to be dying of alcohol poisoning, and so there was no practical limit to just how much alcohol a man could consume in this place. When Richard Powel burst into the pub and ordered a beer, he was already extremely angry. As much as he hated his job at Carson Advertising Inc, he knew he had to put up with it for only another few weeks in order to guarantee the security of his family. Three more paychecks and he could walk out forever and be with Minmei, and then he could put all his energy into getting ready for the baby. For some odd reason he had taken little pleasure in the fact that this weeks paycheck was actually three weeks pay, instead focusing on the fact that the check appeared in his mailbox in a pink envelope. A short but heated argument with the Zentradi manager some 8 minutes later provided his explanation; someone had found out about his wife and some of the less glamorous details of their relationship. This, as the slightly angry Zentradi had put it, was called taking out the trash.

Richard's blood was still boiling when he took his seat on the bar stool. He thought of a million horrible things he would love to do to that Zentran given half the chance, and he thought of all the millions of ways to get away with it. And then his anger and frustration skyrocketed when, looking at the corner of the bar, he noticed almost a dozen meltrans laughing and joking in the corner with a group of combat pilots. Each one was strikingly beautiful, and if he could be fooled into thinking they were anything but Zentradi he would have found them irresistible, but this fact only fueled his own burning hatred of them as he sat down on his stool and guzzled his poison. He was so fixated with his disgust over the Zentradi women that he didn't even notice that the one human woman in the room had come up behind him. "Tequila." She said to the bartender.

Richard recognized the voice and turned around with a start. "Oh great..." he said, turning back around and rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"Good to see you too, you drunken piece of shit." She said flatly.

Richard took another sip of his beer and dropped his elbows on the bar. "What do YOU want Sara?"

Sara took the stool next to him as the bartender fetched her drink. "I heard you tricked some lucky lady into marrying your sorry ass."

Richard sighed. "You heard that did you?"

"No, Corina did. Through the walls of your apartment."

Richard put down the drink and rubbed his fingers through his hair. "I lost my temper." He said sadly. "I love her so much, but sometimes she just..."

"So of course you beat her into the ground until she stopped moving. How romantic."

Richard rolled his eyes, not quite in the mood to have this converstaion twice in the same day. "Not that it's any of your business..."

"It is actually. You hurt one of my friends, just like you hurt me. You obviously don't care what you're doing to her because you're here in this bar drinking your damn beer."

"I only need one." He said defensively. "I got fired today."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Now go home and tell your wife before you get drunk."

"They said I was bad for business." Richard said, taking another sip of his beer. Sara noted that he only seemed to be half listening to her, and something about his mannerisms seemed odd. "They told me that I "Reflected poorly on the moral standards of the company." How do you like that, a Zentradi lecturing ME about moral standards?"

Sara had heard it all before. It hadn't taken her long to figure out exactly why he hated Zentradi so much. In his mind, they had somehow come to represent everything he hated about himself, personified before him and mass produced for his spiteful convenience. "Richard your wife is human, and you are killing her. How does that make you any better?"

"Because unlike them, I have regrets." He said, starting up another beer. "And you're one of them. Sara, I did alot of really sick things to you, and I'm sorry."

Sara rolled her eyes. "I was stupid enough to fall for your bullshit the FIRST time, and I wasn't about to give you a chance to do it again. But Minmei doesn't have the confidence to walk out on a dipshit like you, so I came here to try and talk some sense into you. If you really love your wife, the first thing you'll do is leave this bar right now."

Richard finished his second beer and turned to her. "Fine. Let's go."

He was facing her directly for the first time that night, and only now was Sara able to smell his breath. She stood up suddenly as she realized there was FAR more there than just cheep beer. "Rich, did you stop anywhere else before you came here?" He said quickly, looking around for the nearest exit.

Richard stood up and leaned close to her. "A few places. But I'm not drunk..."

"Aw, shit!" Sara felt a fear she hadn't felt in three years, not since the last time she had seen him in person. From the way he was moving, she could now tell that he was at least as drunk then as he was now... Sara sprang off the bar stool and nervously backed away from him. "Richard get away from me!"

Richard chuckled. "What's the matter with you? You know what you came here for!" Before she could turn and run, Richard grabbed her by the wrists and kissed her. She pushed him away and tried to run, but he kept his grip on her wrist, pulled her back and kissed her again. "Ya know, you're alittle bit sexier than Minmei..." He said chuckling, his words slurred just slightly.

Something appeared next to Richard so quickly that Sara wasn't even sure if it was really there. But when a blunt, white object smashed into the side of his jaw and sent him tumbling to the ground, Sara was more than able to guess just what it was, and so wasn't surprised to see one of the Quodrono pilots grab her elbow and lead her out of the bar. "That man never comes here sober. You should stay away from him." She said, shoving her into a taxi.

"I know, I know." Sara said as the Taxi drove off. The meltran turned around just as Richard came running out of the bar. He saw the taxi drive off, looked at meltran for a moment and considered exacting some retribution for the bruise on his jaw. 

"Go ahead, micronian." she said mockingly, taking off her gloves. "Try me. See how far you get." Richard growled and started on the long walk back to his apartment. He was only 10 meters down the block when he saw someone standing on the street corner in a long overcoat, and recognizing this person for who and what she was, he checked his wallet to make sure he had enough money leftover and started walking towards her.

--25:10 GST--

Few planets exist in the universe more beautiful than the planet Shiar. This ancient home of a once proud and advanced civilization was now a paradise for hundreds of millions of Zentradi warriors, all of which now struggled to find a balance in their lives between war and peace. The factioning of the Zentradi forces there had broken the warriors into small clans and fleets, with each fleet rarely reaching numbers in the double digits. Though all was generally peaceful and there were few open quarrels between the factions at this time, there was tension in the air as they tried unsuccessfully to predict the next move of the Supervision Army, who they knew could attack at any time. When the boon was finally lowered unto their planet, it was too late to do anything about it.

Lacul's Fulbtz-Berrenz command fortress defolded into space several million kilometers from the planet Shiar, far beyond the reach of any of their weapons and outside of the planet's gravity well. Lacul looked over the planet from a distance as the Zentradi began scrambling ships to attack him, knowing already that it was far too late for them to stop him. "Kraken, are you certain this will work the way we intended it?"

Kraken turned to his master and smiled. "It will my lord. We've been over the device thoroughly, and we're certain it is a functional replica of the device we found at Kaladan. I assure you it will work just as well as the original."

Lacul smiled. "You've done well for yourself, Kraken. Once we capture the micronian planet, Gallaron will be ours for the taking."

Kraken laughed. "I am certain you will enjoy this demonstration, My lord."

"You may be right." Lacul waved his enormous hand at the giant screen in front of him. "I'm ready Kraken. Let's see it."

Kraken passed an order to the commanders of the deployment team and the small group of battleships began to move forward. The weapon itself that was almost three kilometers long, and was being carried to its target by a command ship. The ship had been charging the weapon for the past 5 minutes, and any second now it would be time to activated it. 2 more minutes and the planet Shiar would be gone...

The Zentradi ships orbiting the planet opened fire as the battleships closed in. The command ship itself was finally in range and the fold weapon was now fully charged. It waited a moment for the fold device to arm itself, then dropped its barrier system, backed away from the massive device and folded to safety outside of the effective area. "Here is comes my lord." Kraken said, reading data off the consol.

On the main monitor, Lacul could see the fold weapon begin to glow and sparkle. Two rings on either end of the cylinder glowed red hot for a moment, and then the device vanished into a hyperspace fold. The instant the fold weapon disappeared from view, there was a blinding flash of light from beneath the surface of the planet Shiar. The crust began to turn and shift, and then the entire surface of the planet split and cracked. Half a heartbeat later, the entire planet seemed to implode as if an invisible hand had just crushed the planet like a gigantic egg. In a matter of seconds, the planet Shiar, a forty-three thousand kilometer globe and home to 1.5 billion Zentradi, had been crushed into a cloud of dust and rocks. The two moons of Shiar fell from their orbits, drawn into the maelstrom of compressed gas and dust before they too were pulverized and crushed into the center of where the planet used to be. All of this took exactly 4 seconds, and when it was over, the planet Shiar and the two moons had been completely smashed like light bulbs under the treads of a tank.

Lacul looked over the reaction and laughed out loud. "Excellent! It's just like the legend says!"

Kraken looked over the data from his sensor and frowned. "As a matter of fact, it is. The weapon has distorted space-time over a three light year area. Long range fold operations will be next to impossible now."

Lacul laughed again. "This whole sector is like that, what difference does it make? Have all ships set course for Earth. We'll capture that planet and build up our forces, and then we'll annihilate that troublesome Gallaron colony."

"Yes my lord. I'll begin fold calculations at once."

--25:45 GST--

For most people, Friday nights meant a night of low key celebration and relaxation. But for Minmei, it was Pay Day at Carson Advertising inc. Some days he would come home slightly tipsy and inflict some petty indignity on her. Other days, Fridays especially, he would come home blasted out of his mind and beat her almost to death. But more often than not, he was still the sweet and gentle man she had fallen in love with, and for this reason alone did she keep coming home every day. It was almost like gambling, she thought sometimes. But lately she had begun to feel it was no longer worth the risk of coming across him on one of his bad nights, when in some crazed fit of anger he would often beat her into unconsciousness and then rape her in her sleep.

Tonight was such a night, for no reason other than that it was Friday night. Three weeks in a row, she had managed to avoid him on Fridays by working late shifts at King Lao's and thereby coming home well after he was asleep. This was the safest arrangement, as he sometimes had a notion of going out and finding her wherever else in the city she spent her spare time. But King Lao's, being a hangout for off-duty soldiers and micronized Zentradi, was fast becoming her fortress of solitude when she needed to lick her wounds, since it was the last place in the city Richard would ever willingly go. But leaving work at the restaurant left her without an escape plan, and tonight, she returned to the apartment several hours earlier than usual to find every reason to relax. There were no beer cans on the ground, no stains on the counter for her to clean up. No sign that Richard had made any effort to stay awake this evening, and she decided he had probably just staggered in and passed out on the bed. For a few minutes she leaned against the door, contemplating her impending return to the stage. As far as Richard was concerned this was to be her "debut", but she knew it was only a matter of time after she started performing again before he found out it was actually her "return". She thought of some of the ways to work him into it gently, maybe by playing it off as if she never thought of it to be a big deal before, or maybe by convincing him that she was just really popular with the colonists from SDF-1, or maybe... 

Her train of thought was interrupted when she heard something in Richard's room. She made her way around the couch in the living room toward the hallway that led into their bedroom, until she met her newest and most painful nightmare. She was about 5'9", with blonde hair, brown eyes, and dressed in skimpy lingerie that she made only the slightest effort to conceal underneath a long overcoat. The woman stepped out of the bedroom and walked past Minmei without a word, apparently not even noticing her, counting a large wad of bills in her left hand. "What are you doing in my house?" She asked, knowing the answer already but hoping for some kind of miracle.

"Just warming him up for you." The woman said. "He's all yours now, so enjoy yourself." The woman winked and disappeared through the front door. 

Minmei turned and stepped through the doorway to their bedroom, only to find Richard sitting on the bed tugging his pants on. "Who's your new friend?" She knew it was a waste of time to ask. The way he was swaying, it was obvious that he was completely wasted beyond all hope of rational thought.

Richard looked at her and smirked. "Don't ask me about my personal life Minmei. I love you, but I will kick your ass if you butt into my business."

"You brought a hooker into our house," She said, fighting back tears. "And you tell me it's none of my business?"

"Did I stutter? Are your ears stuffed with egg rolls or something? Look, you go off and do whatever and whoever you like on Fridays and I don't complain. If I hear any more of your whining tonight, I'm gonna whup your bony ass. Do you understand?"

"Yes Richard. I'm sorry." she said, turning around to leave.

"Hey, as long as you're up, why don't you make me something to eat."

"What...What would you like?"

"Anything but that gook food you cooked last night. That shit makes me sick."

Minmei sighed, too afraid of him to feel offended. In his present condition, almost anything she could say would make him crazy. It also didn't help that after a few drinks, he usually couldn't distinguish between a cheese burger and a fortune cookie. "The only things we have are ham, cake, and maybe some roast duck."

"Then make me some... roast duck! Damn, do I have to make ALL the decisions around here?" He groaned, following her into the kitchen.

Minmei knew she needed to sneak out of the apartment as soon as possible, all she had to do was think of a reason. She already knew there plenty of food in the house, but she also knew Richard didn't know that. She figured that as usual he would not become violent if she went through all the motions. "It seems we don't have any duck." she said, looking into the fridge.

Richard growled. "I sent you to the store yesterday to get some food. What the hell happened to all the money?"

Minmei was staring into the fridge at 3 pounds of roast duck in the freezer, but instead of tempting fate by staying in there any longer she tried to make something up. "I got the food, but the market didn't have any duck. Something wrong with the cloning farms."

"Don't you lie to me, Minmei. I know when you're lying."

"It's the truth. If you're still hungry, I'll go to the store right now and ge..." Minmei could not tell what happened next, but somehow she ended up on the floor with a throbbing headache. Richard was on top of her, clasping her throat with both hands, choking the life out of her.

"I'm gonna kill you chink bitch!" He said through clenched teeth. "You're a useless pile of shit! You can't do ANYTHING right!!" Minmei clawed at his hands trying to free herself but it was no use. No air could pass into her lungs, and the lights were growing dim. The only thing within reach was a skillet on the floor next to her that she guessed had fallen when he knocked her over. As quickly as she could grab it, she raised the skillet and smacked him across the head with it, knocking him off of her and giving her an avenue of escape. But she never reached the door; Richard managed to grab a fistful of her hair and force her to her knees. "Don't you move an inch, Minmei! Don't move even an inch!" Despite his warnings, she struggled against him, clawing with all her strength to get to the door and leave that place forever. But he held her firmly by the hair, holding her from freedom by the pull of her scalp. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched him plug something into the wall, and she could guess what was about to come next. "You just never learn, do you?! Stupid bitch, I'll teach YOU a lesson!" He pulled her up by her hair bent her over the counter. Before she could struggle free he caught her wrist and twisted her left arm painfully behind her back, effectively pinning her to the counter. He twisted harder and harder until she felt it snap, and when the paroxysm of pain exploded from her shoulder and surged through her body she realized with sudden panic that he had just broken her arm. Over her shoulder, she could just make out the outline of a steam iron in his hand, plugged into the wall next to her. "What do you have to say to me?!"

"I-I'm sorry..." she said, trying not to yell out form the pain in her shoulder.

Richard twisted her arm harder and shouted again. "You're what?!"

"I'm sorry!" Minmei screamed.

"Oh, you're SORRY?! Well let's just see how sorry you are!" She felt him pinch one of her fingers and press it firmly against the iron. He held it there until skin blistered and peeled from her finger tips, and blood ran down her arms to stain the carpet. Despite her best efforts, she could not contain herself, and her screams filled the entire building. 

--25:50 GST--

The 2nd fleet was battling a large number of Supervision Forces near the planet Yalgo, a massive gas giant very much like the planet Jupiter, in the Mishalla system. The battle zone itself was spread over half a million kilometers, with warships exchanging fire mostly with heavy energy cannons at incredible ranges and using reflex missiles against anything that came any closer. Shikari's battleship was sustaining direct hits from several heavy laser cannons on an enemy battleship, but her own gunners now returned fire and put several scars into the enemy ship as a reminder. Her pinpoint barrier systems were keeping the ship mostly untouched by the enemy fire, but a few did get through and there were fires on the lower decks. "Concentrate forward firepower on the destroyers next to that battleship!"

The gunnery chief sounded confused. "Why the destroyers?!"

"Just do it!" The gunners obeyed, and the forward guns of Shikari's ship as well as several nearby Zentradi ships put a barrage into the destroyers that quickly reduced all three of them to floating wrecks. The remains of the three ships started to fall behind, leaving the battleship suddenly exposed to enemy fire from many directions and attacks from fighters. The other commanders apparently noticed this, and the combined firepower of 6 Zentradi destroyers quickly tore the battleship apart. 

Shikari noticed with satisfaction that with the destruction of that leading battleship, the enemy fleet had lost it's fulcrum and was loosing balance. It was time for her to go on the offensive, and she decided to send out fresh fighters. "Armor units 5 and 6, fall back to point-w and cover the fighter unit until they can rearm!" Shikari shouted into the com, watching as her first wave exhausted the last of their munitions on the front lines. The enemy fleet outnumbered her by a narrow margin, but she could still feel victory ahead. "Helm, all engines hard to starboard, give me a broadside to protect the fighters!"

The battleship turned, and more than a hundred of defensive guns and missiles turrets along the ship's flanks let out a fierce barrage that daunted all but the boldest pilots. Those few enemy mecha that did not break off were quickly destroyed by the bombardment, and now the Lightning fighters were landing on the ship to be rearmed again. "Great work! Second wave, launch now!" The launch hatches opened up along the side of the hull and another 500 planes shot into space ahead of the battleship, as well as 500 more Queadlunn-Rau powered armors. Shikari watched them close in on the enemy fleet before turning the ship back to the front to fire her main guns at the enemy. She had taken to shooting them down one at a time, firing a barrage from all 20 laser cannons on the bow at once to destroy her target quickly.

"Admiral, incoming missiles, ahead 1 thousand!"

"All fighters get clear of the ship!" She shouted. "Get clear NOW!"

"Range 700!" Shikari looked at the tactical boards and waited for the fighters to get some distance. "600!"

At last the fighters were passing the enemy missile bombardment and doing a very good job of staying away from their proximity fuses, and now all she had to do was push through them. "400 and closing!"

"Activate barrier system!" the Zentradi battleship and several nearby vessels responded, and all of the warships stopped firing as a faint hazy sphere formed around them. The reflex missiles from the enemy fleet exploded in front of them and all around them, fireballs devouring their ships and blinding the crews for a few moments. 3 destroyers near her flank began to sway in the shock of the blasts, and then their reflex barriers snapped off and the two of the ships disintegrated into scattering clouds of twisted metal.

She waited for the last of the warheads to explode around her, and then she retaliated. "Open barriers! Return fire all missiles!" The battleship fired two dozen reflex missiles, and several nearby ships joined in with a dozen each. The fighter units near the front did not even need to be told their duty; the Lighting fighters launched their own reflex missiles and the Queadlunn-Rau units carefully herded the enemy battle pods and powered armors back towards the enemy ships. The Gallaron missiles exploded around the Supervision Fleet with much greater effect, totally vaporizing 19 of the smaller ships and crushing 5 of the heavy cruisers despite the protection of their antiquated defense fields. A group of VF-4s put a few of their own missiles across the command ship, but the nuclear missiles didn't even phase it.

At this point, a group of gunships close to the outside of the battle zone ripple-fired their main cannons at the enemy fleet, blasting dozens of vessels at once with each blast. Several enemy ships lost maneuvering power and began to fall out of orbit, but the ships that remained maneuvered again attack Shikari's fleet. "Damn! They just don't stop!" She looked at the tactical boards again. Her fleet had 152 ships operational, and the enemy had at least as many, even after that last barrage. The enemy ships and the Zentradi vessels were both circling each other in a disorganized swarm, tearing into each other fiercely with beams and missiles of all shapes and sizes. Things were getting more and more intense by the minute. "Fire control, prepare another missile spread and concentrate all batteries on the enemy command ship..." before she could even give the order, the Supervision mecha started to pull back. All of the enemy pods quickly dropped away from the battle line and set down on the hulls, some of them doing so even under fire from the variable fighter units. The second wave of Lightning fighters took this opportunity to fire off their missiles into the hulls of the enemy ships, destroying 5 of them in a matter of minutes as the others all began hyperspace folds by the dozens. Shikari opened the main gun and took one last shot at the enemy, blasting an enemy battlecruiser with the cannon just before it managed to fold, and then the last of the enemy fleet vanished into hyperspace, leaving Shikari alone in orbit of the gigantic planet.

Commander Elensh called in from the battle line, utterly confused. "I don't understand this Admiral. Why did they run?"

Shikari turned it over in her mind. "We were still evenly matched, but they just up and left without a second thought. I wonder..."

Elensh looked around in space as if expecting the entire fleet to jump out and surprise them again. "You don't think it's some kind of trap do you?"

Shikari shook her head. "Just attacking here in the first place was pointless. There's no strategic value, no ships or bases they can salvage, just the old listening post from the Schism War..." Shikari thought more about it, and for a change she had no definite answers. "Maybe it's... maybe they've been recalled to attack a different objective?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know, but I'd better contact the others. Mean time, plot an intercept on thoose enemy ships in case we need to follow them."

--25:56 GST--

Even from outside, Lao Kai Chan could hear Louis Armstrong playing on the 5th floor of the apartment building. He took the elevator, calmly and collected, to the top floor and stepped out to search for Minmei's apartment. Sara had called him as soon as she got home, and so he knew exactly what to expect. Tonight, he waited for the music to pause between tracks to make sure he wasn't actually barging in on a moment of marital bliss, but in the brief few seconds between tracks he heard Minmei begging for her life. Before the next track even started, Kai Chan reached into his pocket for the keys he'd gotten from Corina and opened the door, closing and locking it behind him.

Louis Armstrong played his last solo that night, but this time he could not drown out the sound of violence inside the apartment, nor could Elvis Presley on the room directly above, or Zombie Zentradi in the room directly below. It sounded as if a small war had broken out in the Powel apartment, and for some reason it was especially louder and more constant than ever before. Finally, the listeners of the music gave up and decided they were tired of sitting by and listening while he pounded on her, but by that time the sound had faded. The elderly couple could still hear something from inside the room, a semi-rhythmic thumping sound like someone was banging something against the wall, coupled with the occasional breaking of glass, but at least she was no longer screaming. Even though the screaming had stopped, no one who had ever been bothered by the noise was able to sleep. The elderly couple and some of the other neighbors from the apartments above and below the Powel apartment gathered in the hallway outside the door and listened intently for any signs of life. The woman who lived above her worried that the rhythmic sound they had heard was the sound of Richard hacking his wife to bits with an axe or a saw. But the Dawson brothers who lived beneath them came up the stairs a few minutes later, insisting that they had heard the wife crying just before they came up. This gave them all hope, as it seemed to indicate that at least she was still alive. 

Gathering his courage up at last, the old man stepped up to the door and knocked on it while the others watched nervously from around the corner. No one answered, so he knocked again. "Ms. Minmei? Can you hear me?" There was still no answer, and the old man made his decision. "I think we should call the police," He said gravely. His 70 year old wife reached into her purse for a wireless phone. But before she could even dial the numbers, the door opened slowly and Lao Kai Chan emerged, cradling Minmei in his arms, soaked in her blood.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry for all the noise. Crazy son of a bitch doesn't like to stay down for some reason."

The old man glanced into the apartment, catching a glimpse of what appeared to be Richard Powel piled up in a heap in the corner of the room, bleeding from his lip and his forehead and bruised up from head to toe. "Will she be okay?"

"She's hurt pretty bad." Kai Chan said. "I need to take her to the hospital. Do any of you have a car?"

One of the Dawson brother's nodded. "We can use my taxi. Lemme just get the keys."

Kai Chan nodded, and the old man pushed the button for the elevator while his wife looked at Minmei's wounds. "Her arm is broken." She said. "And she might have a concussion."

"She passed out when I tried to pick her up." Kai Chan said as the elevator opened up. "By the way, when Mr. Wonderful in there wakes up, be sure to tell him he can find Minmei at the video store for $14.99."

"I'll be sure to tell him." Said the old man. "Should we get in touch with the papers about this?"

"That's the LAST thing you should do right now." Kai Chan said as the elevator closed. As the lift started moving, Kai Chan turned to the Dawson bothers next to him. "We're going to the military hospital over by the airstrip. I'll need special permission to get her in there, so we have to make one stop on the way."

Mr. Dawson nodded. "Whatever you say, man."


	28. Chapter 27: The Gathering

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Chapter 27: The Gathering

--July 11, 2016--

--00:50--

There was a knock on the door. Hikaru looked at his watch and noticed it was alittle after midnight. Since it was Sunday, he didn't mind so much, but he wondered who in their right mind would be bothering them at a time like this. Being careful not to wake Miko, Hikaru crept downstairs and answered the door. What he saw on his doorsteps was the stuff of nightmares. Lieutenant Chan was there, staring ahead blankly, carrying the limp Minmei in his arms, both covered in blood. "Colonel sir, I have a serious problem I think you could help me with."

Hikaru was too petrified to move, but just barely managed to squeak out a sentence. "Is...is she...?"

"She's alive." He said. "She has a concussion, and her arm is broken."

Hikaru gestured for them to come inside, and Kai Chan walked inside quickly and set Minmei down on the couch while Hikaru got a filed medical kit out of the kitchen. "She's not in critical condition, but the army medical center won't admit a civilian without a special permit and I..."

Hikaru held up his hand to stop him. "I can get her in there, but why do you need to take her to the army facility?"

"Her husband might come after her."

"HE did this?!" Hikaru said, opening the med kit.

Kai Chan nodded. "When I came into the apartment... I should have killed the sonafabitch! I mean what the hell kinda psychopath would...ugh!"

Hikaru knew it was a question he would regret, but he wasn't about to leave himself in suspense for the rest of his life. "What? What was he doing?" he said, cleaning the cuts on Minmei's forehead.

Kai Chan showed him Minmei's hands, both scorched a blistered from the iron. Hikaru got the point, but that wasn't all. "When I came in Minmei was lying naked and bloody on the floor, and the crazy bastard was holding her legs apart trying to cut her open with a damn..."

"Jesus Christ! I get the point!" Hikaru stood up and went back to the kitchen to fetch his keys and a stiff drink. "And he seemed like such a nice guy..."

Kai Chan nodded. "He struck me as a well balanced character when I met him. And they made such a good couple."

"I guess theses you never can tell." Hikaru put his shoes on and got into uniform. "Misa's still on the ship, supervising the refits. I'll take her to the hospital..."

"I got a ride, all I need is a pass."

"I'm your pass, Kai. Do you KNOW how illegal this is?"

Kai Chan nodded. "Colonel, you have no idea how grateful I am."

"Yes I do, Lieutenant. I know EXACTLY how you feel." Hikaru injected her with a sedative to make sure she stayed asleep, and the two of them carried her out of the house around back towards Hikaru's car. "Just in case the guys does come looking for her, I'll tell the medical staff not to admit anyone who comes asking about her."

"Good idea. You want me to go down to the apartment and take care of him?"

Hikaru started the car while Kai Chan carried Minmei in the back seat. "That won't be necessary. We'll deal with HIM after we know Minmei's alright."

--01:30 GST--

Only a few ships of Broli's first advanced fleet were still fighting at Zjen-Kari, and now they added to the firepower of General Karga's 3rd Advanced fleet as well as several of the new protoculture ships that had been salvaged alongside Thor's Hammer. These ships were filling the skies with reflex missiles and taking in fighters almost as fast as they could launch them, and Korazan happened to notice that it seemed very much like the old days in the dew battles the Zentradi fought alongside their traditional masters. The roles were different now, but the results were the same.

A pair of Supervision battleships with a destroyer group came around from low orbit of the 4th planet to attack, firing missiles as they closed in. General Karga's battleship and a few destroyers around it blocked the missiles with their reflex barriers and counter attacked with their own missiles. One of the battleships took the brunt of the counter attack and fell from orbit, and several squadrons of VF-4's swooped in to finish them. Each fought through the defending battle pods, blasting a dozen at a time with barrage of laser cannons before firing their own missiles into the hull of the other battleship and the destroyers around it. After three more passes, the Lighting squadrons had knocked out all of the enemy destroyers and the battleship was in flames from the main guns of the battleship Golgrono.

General Karga made sure the enemy ships were out of the fight before checking his tactical boards again. His fleet was engaged in battle all over the star system, most of them too far for his ship and its escorts to engage. The enemy fleet outnumbered him three to one, but in keeping the battle zone spread out and the number of large scale engagements down, Karga's ships were doing better than he would have expected under the circumstances. "Korazan, what's our combat potential at this time?"

Korazan looked at that tactical screen at the back of the bridge. "We're at 85% effectiveness sir. We can contain them if we exercise patience."

"Patience." Karga said. "I suppose I can be patient. What's the nearest engagement?"

Korazan looked at the monitor again and reduced the display range on the monitor. "The 815th mechanized division is engaged with an enemy destroyer group near the 2nd moon."

"Alright. Send a full fighter wing to support and alter course to follow them."

"Yes sir." The hangar bay of the Golgrono opened and a new wing of VF-4 Lighting fighters, 60 fighters in all, launched into space as the battleship and the destroyers around it turned towards the battle. The fighters could get there much faster than the ships could, and if their pilots were half as good with the variable fighters as they were with their older Regult pods, Karga knew the enemy ships wouldn't even be there by the time they were in range of his guns. Korazan widened the range again as new reports came in. "Sir, a large group of enemy ships has just folded out of the system."

"Are they trying to break through our defense line?"

Korazan shook his head. "They seem to be reversing course... more folds sir. All ships are reporting enemy vessels in retreat."

"Retreat?" Karga switched on the main screen in front of the command bubble and looked towards the second moon. Sure enough, all of the enemy ships engaging the 815th division were vanishing into hyperspace in one huge mass. General Karga didn't find it especially odd that the enemy seemed fit to be cut their losses and return home. What did bother him was the timing of it. The enemy forces in the Zjen-Kari system had been fighting for a relatively short time, and the new ships that came to reinforce them has only been in the system for 4 hours before then. It may very well have been the shortest battle of his life, but in this he found no pleasure. They still outnumbered him, and Gallaron was still a major target... which could only mean Lacul had found something else, something perhaps more valuable to him than Gallaron or maybe just something easier to get.

"Incoming message from the Mishalla front sir." Korazan said after a short silence. 

Karga opened a screen in front of the command bubble and found himself looking at a somewhat displeased meltran. "General Shikari, you've been instructed to maintain radio silence. This better be important."

"It might be." Shikari said. "I'm over Yalgo right now. The enemy fleet is retreating, and they still have the advantage."

Karga raised a brow. "Same here. I'd like to think that the fight's simply gone out of them but that's never happened before in all the years since I was activated."

Shikari nodded. "The fight NEVER goes out of those people. They've either been recalled to defend their headquarters or else..."

"Or else Lacul has found a new objective."

"Exactly." The gears in Shikari's head were spinning again, analyzing data with speed and precision beyond the reach of most computers. "It might be good to leave him be so we can build up our forces at Gallaron, but I get the feeling he'll come back even stronger if we leave him alone."

Karga was thinking the same thing. "You could be right. In any case, leave a picket line at Yalgo in case this is some kind of trick, and then follow the enemy fleet from a discrete distance. As soon as you figure out where they're headed break pursuit and rendezvous with the fleet at Soccoro-delcaan."

Shikari grinned. "A pincer movement? That's not like you Karga."

Karga grinned back. "I've never been in a situation like this before. Might as well try something new."

"Of course." Shikari passed orders to the navigators to begin fold calculations and signaled a group of destroyers and pickets to start patrol runs of the system. "You'd better get in touch with Gallaron. We may be needing reinforcements."

"Right, I'll get word back to them on the relay. But let me ask you one more thing."

"What?"

"About Captain Broli..."

Shikari looked at him questioningly. "What about him?"

"I heard he's engaged to Commander Matheson. I don't particularly understand the ritual myself, but Korazan has explained to me that it is important for close friends and family members to attend."

Shikari nodded slowly. "Oh, that's right! I almost forgot."

"You're very to close to Captain Broli aren't you?"

Shikari nodded again. "I suppose I am. What are you suggesting?"

"Broli can take care of himself, but I'm certain that when we go into battle he may harbor some concern for his mate..."

"Which of course may impair his judgment." Shikari put her brain to work once again. "I don't know why I never thought of that, but thanks for telling me. I'll take care of it when the time comes."

--01:45 GST--

SDF-07, the ship captured by the Shikari fleet during the Battle of Mishalla, was being quickly refit and reinforced in the newly rebuilt factory block of the satellite. The space station itself was the size of a small planet, so it would still be a few years before it was fully operational. Omega factory would need a few more months yet, but it too was churning out more ships as quickly as it could. Between modifications to all of their new ships and the building of new ones, both factories were operating at less than 10% capacity, but it was enough.

Misa was back on the bridge of SDF-2, and most of the crew were at their duty stations again. The modifications to the ship were close to complete, though the main cannon was still under construction under the reinforced hull of the ship. The 40 particle cannons along the hull would come in handy, as would the extra laser cannons and the 300 additional fighters in the lower and upper flight decks along the forward hull. Misa couldn't wait to see it in combat, and the other Zentradi officers and starships apparently felt the same way as they gathered around the docking port to await the anticipated launch of the great battleship.

Misa had been staring blankly out the window for almost an hour with her mind wandering before she happened to glance over and notice the two empty stations in front of her chair. She looked at her watch and saw that the ship was set to launch in 17 hours after final systems checks were complete, and this was very unlike Sara and Corina to be away from their stations so close to the deadline. "Has anyone seen Sara or Commander Matheson?" she said to no one specifically.

One of the ops officers shrugged. "Broli stopped by her quarters last night."

Misa didn't need to hear anymore. Corina and Broli has the same kind of relationships Claudia had with Roy. It was easy to guess what they'd been doing all night. "Well where's Sara?"

"She didn't come back from the surface." Said another ops officer. "She said she had some kind of emergency."

Misa sighed. "I sure hope everything's alright..." 

The door in the back of the bridge opened and General Hallas walked onto the bridge with a clipboard. "Captain Misa, we're almost finished with the main cannon. And I don't mind telling you, that thing scares the hell outa me."

Misa laughed. "Think we've created some kind of monster?"

"Maybe not. I just keep thinking it'll go off accidentally or something. It's about the largest energy weapon ever mounted on a battleship."

Misa laughed again. "Oh well. You didn't just come up here to tell me THAT did you?"

Hallas shook his head. "I've been talking with Varcus about the war situation. He says that ever since the Bodolza fleet scattered into the Galaxy like they did, they Supervision Army has probably been trying to get through to their allies all over the galaxy. You see, their fleets have spread throughout the universe looking for weapons and technology they could salvage to support their conquests, and Gallaron has all the things they've been looking for and more. Ever since they got their own reflex weaponry, they've probably been able to fight their way out of this sector to a region of space where their communications won't be interfered with."

Misa sighed again. "You mean there'll be more of them?"

"There are hundreds of thousands of Supervision ships still active in the Galaxy. If Lacul really is the last protodeviln, they'll flock to him like locusts."

"I guess..." Misa was out of options. Even with the Supervision fleets already in the Arturo sector they were in for many years of open warfare. With more ships coming and thousands more on the way, it seemed to her that the GSDF would be fighting with them for the next hundred years, IF they even lasted that long. "I guess our only choice is to go after Lacul. How did you defeat the protodeviln last time?"

"There was a trick to it actually." Hallas walked around the chair to look out over the side of the ship towards Gallaron. "In order to survive, the protodeviln steal a kind of life energy we call spiritia from living beings and absorb it into themselves or store it for use later. This leaves a person in something of a coma and very susceptible to brain washing. We found out that our people have the ability to regenerate that same spiritual energy, and a few of them, a group of people called the anima-spiritia, can even use that energy for other means, to power machinery or to heal a wound, or even use it against the protodeviln as weapons. Through their efforts we were able to seal them up in a star system we call Gaviaten. The Zentradi call it Varauta."

"You sealed them up? You couldn't destroy them?"

Halls shook his head. "To the best of our knowledge there's no way to kill them. We can destroy their bodies and we can drive them out of people they've possessed, but the essence of what they are remains." Hallas turned around to face her. "We managed to imprison a most of them on Gaviaten, but two of them managed to escape. They abandoned their bodies on Gaviaten and slipped away using some of our own people as vessels. We can only assume Lacul was one of them, but we have no idea where the other one might have gone to."

Misa shook her head in disbelief. "I don't buy it. There has to be SOME way to kill them, I just know it. Obviously, conventional weapons won't work, but what about these spiritia weapons Varcus has been talking about?"

Hallas hung his head. "That's about the only thing that ever worked against them in the past, thought I doubt it'll be enough to destroy them. We might have something like that lying around in our cities or settlements around the planet, but the records are incomplete. None of us have any idea what they look like or how to use them. Even if we had one we don't really know how they work." 

Misa rubbed her temples. "Well...well what DO you know about these weapons?"

Hallas looked up at her. "Nothing really. All anyone really knows is that it has something to do with a song. That's what the light dances represent."

"A song?"

"Yeah. It's strange, but the protodeviln are somewhat afraid of music... if nothing else."

Misa thought back to the Space War against the Bodolza fleet. It seemed like just a coincidence that an ancient culture would find a way to use music as a weapon, but then she was reminded of something Hikaru used to say about Minmei, the way she seemed to get everyone's attention without even trying. There certainly was some kind of energy around her, but weather it was some kind of mystical energy field or just Minmei's sunny personality was anyone's guess. "Keep looking through your records, Hallas. If you find anything that might be a song weapon of some kind, let me know. I might have the perfect test subject..."

"Captain, incoming message from the surface. It's your husband."

"I'll take it right here." Misa said, picking up the handset. "Just a second General..." She pressed a button on the side of the chair. "Hikaru, what's the prob..." She listened for only a few more seconds, then slammed the phone down and stood up to leave. "I'll be back later."

"Where are you going?" Hallas said.

"The surface. A friend of mine was hospitalized."

Hallas didn't seem to understand. "The ship launches in 17 hours! Is this really that important?"

Misa stopped at the door for a moment. "If you're right about those spiritia weapons, this might be military business too."

--01:55 GST--

The Gallaron sun was peaking through the shades of Corina's quarters of the Megaroad, casting a light on Broli's eye that gently roused him from his sleep. Corina was lying naked beside him, his arms still wrapped around her. Apparently they had fallen asleep like that, and she had used his chest as a pillow all night long. He didn't mind one bit, it thrilled him to wake up next to her like this in the mornings, and to think of waking up with her every day for the next several decades filled his heart with joy. He wondered what it would be like to live with her for the rest of his life, maybe even give up fighting as a soldier just to be by her side, or maybe with the advances in protoculture technology they would both live another 200 years together. Broli didn't mind that at all. He'd spent just over two thirds of his 150 years of life in stasis on various battleships and transports in pursuit of the Supervision Army, and he knew that without going back into storage his life expectancy was about 100 more years without medical treatment. He wondered if he would get tired of her before then or maybe they would go their separate ways, or would he always love her like this for centuries no matter what happened to them?

Corina was stirring next to him, and Broli ran his fingers through her long hair as she awoke in his arms again. She lifted her head up and stared at him for a few moments as her eyes came back into focus, and then she smiled at him. "My Broli." She said, her voice just above a whisper. "My grey-skinned champion of the cosmos, and the most amazing man who has ever loved me." Broli kissed her and went back to staring at the ceiling, and Corina dropped her head back in his chest. "You know, this is kind of a funny place to ask, but I wanted to ask you about Shikari."

"What about her?" Broli said quietly, still staring at the ceiling.

Corina tilted her head up a bit so she could look at his face. "I've seen you two together. I can tell you have some kind of relationship."

Broli shrugged. "She's a good friend."

"She's more than just a good friend to you isn't she?" Corina said, yawning. "I can tell there's something more."

Broli thought about it for a few moments. "I guess that's true."

Corina was slightly jealous, though she knew and trusted the Broli would never cheat on her. She would have wanted to question him more aggressively on the subject, but after his performance last night she had barely enough energy to talk to him at all. "Do you feel anything for her?"

Broli continued stared at the ceiling for a few moments. "I feel... something."

"Do you love her?"

"Good question." Broli was at a loss to put his feelings into words. He thought of her as a comrade and a fellow soldier like all of his other friends, but for some reason she stood out above the others, she was special. "Yes, I love her." He said at last. "But it feels... it doesn't feel anything like between you and me. I want to spend the rest of my life loving you, waking up next to you every morning like this, maybe even raising a family with you. But I love Shikari... for no apparent reason or purpose. I can't begin to explain it."

Corina sighed. "Do I have to beat her off you with a stick, or should I just call off the wedding and hand you over to her?"

"Oh GOD no!" Broli said chuckling. "Harper thinks she's gorgeous, but I don't find her particularly attractive, and I'm sure she isn't all that interested in me either. And besides that, if she calls me Kaalcha one more time I think I just might strangle her."

Even half asleep, Corina couldn't help but be angry with him over the confession, but then she remembered something from her own childhood... her brother Raul. "You know, my big brother used to hate it when I called him "Spanky." Ever since I was old enough to walk it was always "Good morning Spanky" or "Mommy, Spanky's stealing cookies" or something like that. He used to chase me around the house with a shovel for saying that, but for some reason I still did it. All those years I was the only one who ever called him that, even in high school. By the time we graduated from the academy, I had almost forgotten his real name. I used to call him up from ARMD-3 and ask for "Ensign Spanky" and people would always look at me funny."

Broli looked at her curiously. "Then maybe you can answer this. Why the hell does she keep calling me Kaalcha? Not only is it inappropriate for her to address me by that title, especially around protocrans, but I have told her hundreds of times NOT to call me that and the little twerp still does it..."

Corina chuckled lightly, and then started laughing. "It's all in good fun, Broli. She only does it to annoy you."

"Yeah, I guessed that. But why?"

The phone started to ring, and Corina sighed and started to pull away from him. "Never mind. Let's get something to eat." She rolled away from him and picked up the phone. "Hello, Corina's quar... WHAT?!"

Broli sat up behind her suddenly alert. "What is it?"

"Oh my god!... I'll... hold on! I'll be right down!" She slammed the phone back on the receiver and leapt out of bed. "Minmei's in the hospital!"

Broli rolled out of bed and started to gather his own uniform from the floor around the bed. "Minmei?! What happened?!"

"Her husband has lost his mind! Sara says she's been seriously injured and they're taking her in for surgery."

Broli started to get dressed even faster. "Dammit! I STILL don't understand why this is happening! Why would a husband harm his wife?! It doesn't make any sense!"

"I don't know, but after this stunt he probably won't get a second chance!" Corina tugged her pants on and leapt into her boots. Broli was right behind her, and in a two-person blur they dashed out of her quarters.

--10:30 GST--

Richard awoke with a pounding headache and a pain in his chest that may or may not have been alcohol induced. He felt like he had been trampled by a stampede of elephants, and it made him wonder just what sort of activities he'd been involved in to make him feel this way. Something outside in the city had roused him from his sleep, and now that he was awake he became sickened by a horrible smell that filled his nostrils. The next wake up call came when he looked around him. There was blood everywhere, on his body and on the carpet which was also filthy with vomit. Though the events of last night were jumbled and confused, he was able to piece together just enough from his fragmented memory and from what he was seeing to know that he had hurt Minmei again, and badly this time. "Minmei? Minmei are you okay?" He looked at the counter, which was covered in her blood. Some of her clothes were strewn about the kitchen, also soaked in dried blood and sticky with alcohol. "Oh my god! Minmei, are you alright?!" He ran down the hall to their bedroom and found it empty, as was the bathroom and the art gallery she had helped him build. There was no sign of her, but there was a carving knife on the floor, adorned with torn cloth and sticky with blood. "Oh shit!" He said, clutching his head in despair. "Oh god! Oh please God, tell me I didn't kill her!" Richard tried to retrace his steps, but he couldn't remember anything clearly. For some reason, his eyes kept darting back to the steam iron on the table, and every time he looked at it he remembered her tortured screams from the night before. When he turned it over at last, he saw that not only was it plugged in and still hot, but there were bits of skin baked to the surface of the device. Richard suddenly felt sick. He had really done it this time, he thought.

At this point, it was obvious that she must have run away somewhere, and he was determined to make it up to her even at the cost of his own life. He quickly got dressed and ran out of his apartment to begin his search, but he bumped into the old man who lived next door in the elevator. "She left last night, boy. And judging from the look of her she was damn lucky to be alive."

Richard stared at the old man as if he were an angel of mercy. "I... I have to see her! Where did she go? Did she tell you where..."

"She did actually, but I wouldn't go chasing after her if I were you. There's alot of people in this city who would line up around the block to get a shot at you for what you did to her. She's very special."

"I know. She's the most beautiful girl I've ever known and if she's hurt or dying because of me I'd never be able to live with myself..."

"That's not what I mean, boy." The old man said. "Minmei reaches for bigger things than you could ever give her. I know you didn't realize, but she's a very special person to all of us... well maybe not you, but to the rest of us she's..."

"You have no idea! She's my wife! I love her with all my heart! I'll die for her if I have to, just tell me where and I'll be there to make it up to her!"

The old man sighed. "You know, I really shouldn't be telling you this, and if anyone asks you didn't hear it from me."

"I won't tell a soul sir!" Richard said.

"That soldier who came in here last night took Minmei to the GDF headquarters, I guess he figured they could give her better treatment."

"Soldier? What's he look..." an image of half-remembrance crept into Richard's mind from the night before. He didn't remember much else than the man's fist flashing in front of his face over and over again, but he could just make out the shape of a short Chinese officer with enormous hands and small feet. He remembered the man, he'd met him once before during an air raid, apparently ordered to guard them by Colonel Ichijo. "Thank you sir!" Richard pushed past the man and took the elevator down to the lobby.

"Don't thank me, I'm just tryin to get ya killed..." The man said under his breath.

_____________________________________________________________

AUTHORS NOTE:

The stats for the Phoenix class **( http://angelfire.lycos.com/gundam/newtype_alpha/megaroad_stats/phoenix.htm )** and the VF-4 **( http://angelfire.lycos.com/gundam/newtype_alpha/megaroad_stats/Lightning.htm )** are available now, and I'm happy to say they are (mostly) spoiler free. Think of it as a gift from your pal Newtype Alpha. ^_~


	29. Chapter 28: The Secret is Out

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Chapter 28: The Secret is Out

--July 11, 2016--

--10:55 GST--

Misa entered into a large room containing 6 people. 3 of them were standing; Broli and Corina were leaning against the wall and Sara was filling a glass of water in the sink. Hikaru and Kai Chan were sitting in chairs against the wall, and Minmei was in the hospital bed, wrapped in bandages over much of her body. Two IV bags were connected at her hand, one containing a clear liquid, the other blood. Misa set a chair at the foot of the bed and sat with her back to Minmei, facing Hikaru. "What happened to her? Car accident or something?"

Hikaru shook his head. "Looks that way doesn't it?"

Misa turned to look at Minmei, and then nodded back at Hikaru. "Then what happened? It looks like she was hit by a bus."

"Nope. It was Richard."

Misa stared at him blankly. "Richard? Are you sure?"

"He was trying to cut her open when I came in." Kai Chan said. "She was lying in a pool of blood on the floor and he was..."

"I don't want to know." Misa said turning back to Minmei. "What I would like to know is how this happened? How could he did this to her?"

"That's what I keep asking." Broli said. "Would someone please explain all this to the poor Zentradi?"

Sara sat down in a chair next to the bed and dropped two alcoseltzers into the glass of water. "He's an alcoholic. And besides that, he gets REALLY crazy when he gets drunk."

Broli snickered. "Sounds like Kamjin Krashvera. Now THERE was a guy who couldn't hold his liquor..."

One of the medics came into the room staring at a handful of papers and stopped next to the bed while he read the last of the data. He looked up at the group of people in the room, then down at Minmei, then at Misa in the chair by the bed. "Captain, you DO know how illegal this is, right?"

Misa nodded. "I'll take responsibility. Just give me the bad news."

The doctor shrugged. "Her left arm is broken in two places, along with three ribs, collar bone, and a skull fracture and a few others. She's lost alot of blood, not a dangerous amount, and..." The doctor gestured to her fingers, the tips wrapped in gawz. "She has third degree burns on her fingers and wrists. Thanks to all this new technology we've been finding in the old city she should heal without too many scars, but of course she probably won't have any fingerprints." All 6 visitors stirred uneasily, and the doctor continued. "Now for the GOOD news."

"What good news?" Corina said, slightly agitated.

"It would seem she is..." The doctor looked at the papers again. "Three and a half months pregnant."

None of them even reacted at first. The doctor wasn't even sure if they'd been listening to him, but then Hikaru looked up suddenly. "Say that again?"

"She's 3 months pregnant, Colonel."

Hikaru nodded. "Right, that's what I thought you said."

Kai Chan sighed. "Well that explains why he was trying to cut her open..."

"Thank you for that wonderful image, Lieutenant." Misa groaned, looking back at Minmei. "Did she tell any of you?"

"She told me." Corina said. "I figured she'd tell the everyone else when she was ready."

The doctor looked at the papers. "As best we can tell, her injuries have not affected the baby, but it would be best for her to avoid any kind of activity until her system's had a chance to recover. I'm still worried about a miscarriage or something."

Hikaru moved his chair to the other side of Minmei's bed and put his hand on her shoulder. "Doc, if there's one thing Minmei does NOT know how to do, it's avoid activity."

"I know. I saw the movie." He put the papers down on a table in the corner of the room and started to leave. "Let me know when she wakes up. I'd like to speak with her..."

"...and get an autograph, right?" Misa said grinning.

"Well... something like that."

--10:59--

By this time in history, all Zentradi knew the stories about Shikari Raskanos. Though all were infinitely embarrassed at having been afraid of her for so long, every one of them recognized and respected her cunning. There were few more ambitious Zentradi in the galaxy than this woman; some believed she desired to conquer a vast empire or maybe even restore the protoculture's Stellar Republic to rule with an iron fist. At the same time, Shikari had become well known among her own soldiers for her confidence and her inflated ego, making the little spec of a meltran aggressive almost to the point of recklessness. All this passion and ambition, combined with years of competition and training, were balanced with the equivalent human IQ of 280.

The plan she came up with this time was simple in principle, yet nearly impossible to pull off. It still amazed most of the fleet that her little stunt with Thor's Hammer had gone as well as it did, but this seemed like a suicide mission. The way she'd explained the operation to the crew, it just didn't seem possible. And yet Shikari was so confident with her plan that she herself insisted on leading the attack group with her personalized powered armor, a Queadlunn-Rau suit adjusted to fit her smaller-than-average body type. 

The attack group folded ahead of the enemy fleet with one ship, a Tou-redir class scout ship packed with powered armors and Lighting fighters. All of the pilots were female; Shikari wouldn't settle for anything less than the finest combat pilots. Shikari's brain had been chewing on fold calculations for hours, and now she was almost ready to move the last units into position. "First and second unit, move fold boosters to coordinates 101... point 5. Adjust alignment to 10 degrees down from solar orbit."

6 powered armors carried the fold booster into its position and adjusted its alignment. Shikari looked at it and held her three fingers up to the sun to judge the angles as Commander Elensh's powered armor came up alongside her. "General, this isn't going to work! There's no WAY they're not gonna notice this!"

Shikari found her first officer's nervous demeanor quite amusing. "C'mon Imura, have I ever been wrong before?"

Commander Elensh shook her head. "I just don't think this is going to work. Hell, if those ships de-fold just TEN METERS off target from where you say they'll be, we're all dead!"

Shikari rolled her eyes. "Relax, I did the calculations myself. And besides, their navigators are as predictable as machines, they'll be exactly where I told you they'd be, don't worry."

Imura moved off to supervise the realignment of the fold boosters in the patterns. Shikari moved towards the center of the formation and activated the powerful jamming beacons that would shut down the enemy radars just long enough for them to get what they needed and leave. She'd been fighting the Supervision Army for almost 200 years, she knew their patterns by heart. "All booster units make final checks... booster three, you're too far in. Adjust your formation... uhhh... exactly 6.2 meters outwards from beacon C." The powered armors moved the booster and Shikari looked over the formation. "Perfect. That's just perfect."

And then the moment came; the scout ship's sensors picked up a defold reaction in hyperspace approaching them. Shikari almost trembled in anticipation. "Here they come! All units take positions now and DO NOT MOVE! Switch Radio transponders to wave four!"

The powered armors moved into position and the Lighting fighters moved up next to them in gerwalk mode. "General, they're here...!" The space around Shikari's powered armor began to sparkle and glow, and then all of the pilots felt the sudden rush of gravity as the distortion of a space fold began pulling them downwards. The energy release washed over all of them, and even Shikari and a dozen other pilots found herself screaming in excitement. And then when all of them looked around, they were right where they expected themselves to be, floating in space barely 2 meters from the hull of a Supervision Army command ship.

With the lightest tap of thrust, Shikari and her strike team planted their feet on the hull of the ship and crouched down as low as possible to avoid detection. They were smack in the middle of an enemy fleet, and more and more ships were defolding around them. She knew it would be difficult for them to notice her force on the hull of the command ship, especially if they were not looking for them, and everyone knew that no one would be crazy enough to try wait in the middle of an enemy fleet's defold to catch them off guard. All of the enemy sensors were directed outwards, scanning the space around them for hostiles. "1st and 4th squads, find and airlock and run a bypass. Second and third squads, check the jamming beacons." The powered armor pilots carried out the orders and Shikari carefully helped one of the other units securing the massive fold boosters to the side of the hull. There wasn't nearly enough power to fold the entire ship, but it was more than enough to get them out of there once the mission was completed.

"4th Squad reporting, we've gained access through the number 5 airlock."

Shikari carefully moved the suit along the hull of the ship towards the airlock, along with nearly a dozen powered armors of the two squads. The Lightings were standing by right behind them, pilots ready and willing to fulfill their part of the mission. One by one, the 50 powered armors and 24 fighters slipped inside of the ship and found themselves surrounded by rows of deactivated Glaug battlepods. "Armor units, secure entry hatches and battlepods. Fighter squadron, you know the drill."

"Yes ma'am!" one of the pilots said, opening the canopy. "Alright people, the comm room should be about 800 meters inside the ship from here, and 12 levels down. Split up and proceed by separate routes."

"General, what do we do if we're spotted?" Another pilot asked, standing at the foot of Shikari's suit.

"Don't sweat it. The regular crewmen are like zombies when the ship isn't at battle stations." The pilot seemed reassured and scurried off to join her comrades. Even as she spoke, the room started to spin around her head. She felt the slight change in gravity as the space around them began to bend. "The ship's folding again. Hurry up people!" The ship entered hyperspace at almost the same time the 12 meltran fighter pilots disappeared into the micron-scale passageways. Shikari now turned to the larger passage and checked for motion or any sound of activity. "Squads, set up a perimeter around this hangar. Get into the passageway and stay quiet"

"Roger." Other powered armors slunk into the macron corridors of the ship and crouched down around the corners of intersections, watching and listening for any signs of something coming. Shikari knew that thanks to heavy brainwashing, the commanders of this ship would not be expected to know any of the details of the operation. The main computer on the ship would have no relevant information, which was the reason why it wouldn't do simply to capture it or interrogate the crew. If she really wanted to know what Lacul was up to, all she had to do was wait until the ship got to Bokata, and then she would ask his computer.

--11:30--

Richard walked into to the military hospital calmly and deliberately, doing well to suppress the burning terror in his heart over the possibility that he may have just murdered his wife and his unborn child... again. He had figured that the soldier, or maybe Colonel Ichijo even, had probably informed the hospital staff not to admit anyone looking for her, so he came up with a plan to gain entry. "Excuse me," He said to the woman at the front desk. "I'm looking for someone who was admitted here recently, a young woman."

"Name and CO?"

"Uhhh... well it's a special case. She was brought in the early this morning with burns and possibly a broken arm..."

The woman glared at him. "I'm sorry sir, but this facility is not open to the public. If you're a registered serviceman, you can go right in. If not, you need a pass. Now what's her name and commanding officer?"

Richard seemed to remember that this was a military hospital and that civilians were not legally allowed to be treated here without some kind of special permit. He thought to try another approach, but then something occurred to him. "Well... you see I'm a friend of Colonel Ichijo..."

The woman looked around and lowered her voice. "Are you here to see Minmei?"

Richard nodded. "You know where she is?"

The woman pointed down the hall. "West wing, room 415. It's right by the cafeteria."

"Thank you." Richard walked on down the hall, then started to walk faster, then picked up the pace almost to a jog. He got into the elevator and took it to the 4th floor, and by the time it stopped he was running.

--11:31--

Time moved in slow motion for the 6 people in or around room 415. Minmei was still unconscious, but she had started turning over every few minutes and seemed to be slowly coming around. Corina and Hikaru were sitting next to the bed to look after her, while Misa waited outside with Broli, Sara and Kai Chan. Even Misa felt the gravity of the situation weighing down her heart. Over the years since Megaroad left Earth, Misa had come to think of Minmei as one of her closest friends. The idea of such a pleasant person in such a predicament turned her stomach.

The three of them had been sitting their in a daze for almost an hour before Hikaru poked his head out the door. "Hey you guys, she's awake."

Misa, Sara, and Broli stood up from their chairs and filed into the room, all pulling up chairs in a half circle around Minmei's bed. Hikaru came to the side of the bed and adjusted it so she could sit up, and Minmei slowly opened her eyes. She looked around for a few minute in a daze, and then blinked quickly as she realized just where she was and what was going on. "I'm... what happened...?"

Kai Chan stood up and patted her hand. "You've been injured very badly. You have 8 broken bones and a concussion, and you've lost alot of blood."

Minmei's fragmented memory was slowly falling into place. Bit by bit she started to gather from what she could remember that Richard had gotten drunk again and this time had gone much farther than ever before. And then she remembered him walking towards her with a carving knife in his hands... "W-What about... what about the...?!"

"Relax, the baby's just fine."

Minmei breathed a sigh of relief, but found herself meeting the cold stairs of her closest friends all around her. "Look... I... I wanted to tell you guys but..."

"Like it's any of OUR business." Sara said, patting her on the shoulder. "It's your life, not ours. You could have told us whenever you were ready. But for god's sake, why didn't you say something about Richard? In case you haven't figured it out by now, he's a VERY dangerous man."

Minmei looked down at her ankles. "I was afraid you'd get in the way, that you might so something to him..."

"You're damn right we'd do something to him!" Hikaru said angrily. "If I'd known three weeks ago about any of this he would have gone strait through the wood chipper!"

"He's the man I love, and the father of my child." Minmei patted her stomach again, wondering if maybe the baby had been listening to all this. "I know how stupid this sounds but I couldn't just give up on him."

Misa ran her fingers through her hair. "Minmei, I'm not going to let you endanger the lives of yourself AND your child. I want you to stay away from him until we've had a chance to deal with him."

Minmei adjusted the bed and sat up more. "Misa... guys, I'm begging you, PLEASE don't do anything..."

"Well we can't just leave it as it is." Hikaru said, leaning against the wall next to the bed. "Look Minmei, you have to know how lucky you are to even be alive right now. If it hadn't been for Corina and Kai Chan, the guys in the morgue would be gluing you back together right now."

Minmei sighed. "Look you guys, I appreciate you helping me like this but..."

Everyone in the room heard the sound of running footsteps outside and all 6 of them looked at the door just in time to see Richard dash into the room. "Minmei are you al...?!" He stopped in the middle of the room at the sight of 7 sets of eyes staring through him, all frozen in a moment of time that seemed to stretch into infinity. For that moment in time, no one breathed, no one moved, all of their hearts stopped beating. 

After a few seconds that seemed like a few hours, Hikaru stood up and walked towards him. Richard found himself staring at him like a deer in the headlights of a mad truck, and in moments they were face to face with each other. "Who are you?" Hikaru said slowly. "Do you have business here or are you lost?" He paused for a minute and glanced back at Minmei. "..or drunk?"

Kai Chan stood up next to him and looked at Richard. "Wait a second, is this your wife?" He said, gesturing towards Minmei. "I mean if she is, shouldn't you be out looking for the guy who did this?" Richard opened his mouth to say something, then gave up the attempt. Kai Chan already knew what he intended to say, and now her turned around to face Minmei. "Minmei, is this your husband?"

Minmei stared at Richard for a long moment, tears running down her cheeks, and shook her head. "Nope." She said casually. "I've seen this man before in my life."

"Really? Well I don't know him either." Misa said, standing up next to the bed. "I've never heard of this Richard person."

"I have." Sara said, moving around to the other side of the bed. "I have a restraining order. He's not supposed to be within 50 meters of me. I'm not very good with math, but that looks like alot less than 50 meters."

Corina shrugged. "Maybe he's a fan of yours Minmei?"

Minmei nodded slowly. "Could be. But this room is family only, right Broli?"

"Right." Broli walked past Richard and stood next to the door. "Family only, no strangers or wandering drunks."

Hikaru turned back to Richard. "I'm sorry sir, you're obviously in the wrong room. I suggest you turn around and go back the way you came before something bad happens to you."

Richard looked around the room, and then at his wife lying in the hospital bed surrounded by her friends. More than anything in the world he wanted to hold her, to run across the room and throw his arms around her overjoyed that she was alright, but not surprisingly he knew he was in serious disfavor with her friends, and Minmei seemed content to play along with them. He wasn't about to give up on the woman he loved, but now was most decidedly not a good time for him to be there. "Minmei, I wanted to say I'm sorry for what I've done..."

"Bullshit." Minmei said quietly. "You're a horrible person. I'm glad my children will never have to know you." Richard took a step forward, but noticed Kai Chan's hand on his pistol and decided under the circumstances to back off. "Sara, could you get me one of those restraining orders?" Minmei asked innocently.

"My pleasure. I got an ex-boyf... er... friend in the D.A.'s office. I'll give him a call."

Broli opened the door to the room. Richard took the hint, and looked back at Minmei. "We'll talk another time..."

"No, YOU will talk another time!" Minmei shouted angrily. "I've had it with you! I never want to see you again!"

Richard took one last look at her... and his handiwork... and turned to leave the room. In the doorway he stopped and looked at Broli for a few spiteful moments, and then disappeared out the door.

Hikaru glanced over at Kai Chan and spoke quietly. "Lieutenant Chan, I'm extending your leave. Stay here and keep an eye on her, and if that son of a bitch comes within 100 meters of this building, he's a dead man."

"Yes Colonel." Hikaru walked back over to Minmei's bed and looked down at her, her eyes sparkling with tears. "Minmei..."

"Forget it Hikaru." Minmei said, wiping her eyes. "I know exactly what'll happen if I go back to him. But there's no telling what he'll do if he doesn't get what he wants."

"I understand." Hikaru bent down and hugged her. "Do you need someone to stay with you?"

Minmei shook her head. "I'm fine, I just need to rest. I know you all have alot of work to do with the defense forces, and you have enough to worry about besides little old me."

"Okay." Hikaru kissed her on the cheek and started to leave with Misa and Corina. "If you need anything, Kai Chan will be waiting outside."

"Thanks." Minmei said.

Misa stopped at the doorway and turned around. "I almost forgot. When you get out of the hospital, you can stay at my place." Misa placed a set of keys on the desk next to the bed. "Now don't go changing your mind and running back to him."

Minmei looked at the keys for a moment, and then looked back up at Misa. "Just promise you won't kill him, okay Misa?"

Misa stared for a moment, not quite comfortable with the idea of letting the man get away with this. She assumed Hikaru felt the same way, but she also knew it would break Minmei's heart if she gave him what he really deserved. "Fine, I'll let him live if YOU promise me you won't go running back to him."

"I promise." She said, more to herself than to Misa. "My gambling days are over."

--12:10--

No one could believe how well it had worked. Sure enough, there were no crewmen in the micron scale passageway and all of the macron passages were guarded by half-sleeping Zentradi, obviously set to a low power status to conserve resources. If the alarms sounded, they would snap right out of it and their metabolisms would go through the roof. They would become totally insane, even for Zentradi. Despite this, all 12 pilots managed to get to the comm room unnoticed and began to uplink over a hyper channel to Lacul's fortress. Shikari had been right about that as well; they were already close enough to uplink into his main tactical computer, something no one, not even Lacul would notice or even find unusual. The Supervision ships acted in perfect synch in major battles and this was the reason why.

The data was keyed through a specially rigged handheld computer and recorded onto terran floppy disks. It only took a moment to download all the data from the computer into the disks, but getting the actual data out of Lacul's central computer took almost an hour. A small, fold capable courier ship was relaying the message, making up for the interference between the two great fleets by taking up an equidistant position between them. It obviously wasn't doing a very good job of it, but in any case they got what they came for. Everything the Supervision Army had done in the past several weeks and everything they were planning was now loaded onto a pair of disks, and the 12 pilots of the data team made 12 copies of each and distributed them evenly. Only one of them needed to make it back for the mission to succeed.

The 12 of them were about halfway back to the mecha hangar when the alarms sounded all over the ship, as well as the rest of the fleet. In the passageways outside the mecha hangars, Shikari's teeth were grinding in rage. "Ops unit, what the hell is happening out there?!"

A group of a dozen powered armors peaked out of the airlock. "A fleet of Shiar-zentran warships is closing on us rapidly! There must be thousands of them out there!"

"Shiar?" This was puzzling. Shikari had never known Shiar-zentran to venture outside of their home system in large numbers. Then again, the ship had been performing fold operations almost non-stop for two hours, which gave her some clues as to just where they had finally stopped. "All units, hold your ground until the pilots get back! Arm detonators and blow this place on my command!" At that moment, Shikari head footsteps around the corner. From the sound of it there were probably dozens of them, and she didn't have to be told just what they were coming for. "They're coming! Imura...!"

"I'm on it!"

Both powered armors burst around the corner and fired off a long burst from the tri-barreled beam guns on their arms into the crowd of surprised Zentradi. Between the two of them, they managed to cut down 20 of them in a matter of seconds. The others leapt out of the coridor behind anything they could use for cover and fired back with their rifles, and Shikari could see at least a hundred more in the passageway behind them, and all of them appeared to be armed. "Dammit! Where are those pilots?!" She hit her thrusters and charged into the midst of them while Imura's armor went the other way. At the instant before she impacted with them, Shikari stopped dead and fired the impact cannons randomly into the crowd. Some of the Zentradi ducked out of the way and fired back, a few stunned soldiers hesitated and were caught in a maelstrom of micro missiles and a spray of beams. Shikari boosted backwards now, firing wildly off both beam guns into the corridor behind her. The Zentradi just kept on coming, some of them trying unsuccessfully to block her beams with the bodies of their comrades, others simply running through the fire as much as they could before their legs failed to move them.

A burst of gunfire from one of the Zentradi soldiers clipped her left arm, destroying her beam guns and most of her left hand. And then a burst of laser fire shot past her from behind into the host of Zentradi soldiers and Shikari looked over her shoulder at a pair of VF-4 Lighting-III battloids. "We got it General! Let's get the hell out of here!"

Shikari fired one last barrage from her missiles into the corridor and darted back down the tunnel towards the mecha hangar. Other powered armors were emerging from passages into the hangar, some of them damaged, and Commander Elensh's powered armor was missing one of its arms. "Imura, get the fold boosters powered up!"

Elensh's unit fired a spread of missiles into the bulkhead to provided the others with an alternate escape route and disappeared with the others out of the hull. Shikari stayed behind, waited for the last of the soldiers to leave before she too started to retreat; to make sure she was the last one out today.

A group of 7 Queajaduel-Ger powered armors burst into the room and started to fire. Shikari dispatched one of them with the beam guns and another with the impact cannons on her chest. The other 5 filled the air around her with laser beams; Shikari fired off a large spread of missiles at two of them, then zipped past them as they moved to evade the missiles. She kicked the first one over, buried her fist into the faceplate of the second one, then turned fired through it into the knees of the third. All three of the armors hit the ground at the same time, and Shikari fired the last of her missiles randomly behind her as she zipped out of the hangar to retreat. "Imura! I need a fold booster!" As if by magic, the long cylinder of a fold booster appeared in front of the opening in the hull; Shikari wrapped both of the suit's arms around the booster as she emerged from the ship and immediately began powering it up. "Fighter wing, blow it!"

The Lighting pilots switched on the remote detonators on the weapons they had left in the battlepods in the hangar, and a dozen reflex warheads went off at once. A massive explosion rocked the enemy command ship, and the Lightings launched their last RMS-1s into space before their fold boosters activated. The Supervision Army never did figure out exactly what was going on, but when their command ship was suddenly rocked by a series of nuclear fireballs, Lacul himself was the only one who actually knew what had happened to it. Watching from the command center of his fortress, he was considerably less than pleased to see dozens of meltrandi powered armors leaving one of his command vessels flanked by micronian variable fighters. He ground his teeth in anger for a few moments until the light of the explosions faded and then checked his tactical computer again. "Kraken, tell all ships to break off from the Shiar-zentran survivors and fold out of this system at once."

Kraken seemed confused. "I don't understand my lord. Don't you want to finish this battle?"

"That damned Shikari..." Lacul watched the powered armors vanish into hyperspace and sighed in anxiety. He wanted to finish this battle almost as much as he wanted to finish Gallaron, but now he knew he would never get that chance. "All ships pull out now. The Gallaron fleet will undoubtedly try to intercept us before we get to Earth. If we move quickly we might be able to slip past them before they can mobilize."

Kraken seemed to understand. "Consider it done, my lord."

****


	30. Chapter 29: One of Those Days

****

Chapter 29: One of Those Days

--July 16, 2016--

Shikari's emergency message hit Gallaron like a bomb and sent waves of fear spreading throughout the entire colony. There could be no mistake, the nav data had been drawn strait out of ARMD-16's computer. Lacul's fortress was headed directly for Earth, and his entire fleet was now gathered for the operation. The recon mission from Shikari's fleet into the Shiar system had confirmed two more very unpleasant pieces of news. First was that Lacul's entire armada had already left and was already on route to the Sol System, and secondly was the condition of the planet Shiar. Scans of the planet confirmed that more than 75% of its mass had apparently ceased to exist; even if it had been vaporized there would still be remnants of it floating around somewhere. Whatever was left had been pulverized, crushed into the suddenly hollow center of the planet like a sandstone along with a billion Zentradi warriors. Both moons had shared the fate of their mother planet, and by now everyone at Gallaron had heard the tales. Lacul had a weapon that could destroy entire planets, and it was painfully obvious just what his next target was.

The rebuilding efforts at Alpha Factory had never been more intense. Almost a hundred protoculture destroyers had been restored, all of them manned by volunteer protocrans from the surface. In the city, there were lines at the recruitment office almost five blocks long of both humans and protocrans, all of whom had felt the cold rush of fear when they heard the news. Protoculture cities all over the continent were being reactivated and restored with help from human engineers with much needed spare parts for the reflex furnaces, and a bank of small superdimensional energy cannons became operational near Megaroad city for the first time in thousands of years.

SDF-2 completed a rather abbreviated shakedown of its new weapon systems and gathered a Zentradi fleet of 200 ships to join Karga and Shikari at the intercept point. SDF-102 completed its repairs and skipped the test firing of the replaced main cannon to join the fleet. Broli's replacement ships were mostly the smaller Thor class destroyers, but the sudden wealth in raw firepower was greatly appreciated. It didn't take Broli very long to come to the conclusion that that his fleet would best specialize in hit and run tactics, deploying as much firepower as possible before falling back out of range of enemy counter attack.

Between the 1st Advanced fleet and Misa's home fleet, the Gallaron forces were sending 450 ships to join Karga and the others, leaving Gallaron very lightly defended. Any ships not combat worthy at the time the fleet left would stay behind as a defense unit, hoping and praying they would not be needed. The Gallaron Armada was all on course for L-1993A, the system the Zentradi called Soccoro-Delcaan. Shikari's 2nd fleet, Karga's 3rd fleet, plus the reinforcements from Gallaron placed the number at just over 700 vessels. The Supervision Army had at least 2000 ships ready for combat, but everyone knew that the surviving ships from Shiar would be at Lacul's opposite flank. Misa, along with the other commanders, were hoping for a miracle, and SDF-2 was the only thing that stood between a battleship sized, life-stealing demon and the planet humans called Earth.

On the morning of July 16th, the GSDF's warships scrambled from Alpha factory en route to Soccoro-Delcaan on that fateful mission. People expected less than half of them would ever return. All they really had to do was keep the Supervision Army from leaving the Arturo sector where they could fold directly to Earth. It was fortunate for them that Shiar was so deep into the sector that it would take them almost two weeks to work their way out of it by mandatory short-folds. Misa had no idea how she was going to pull it off, neither did Karga or Broli. Shikari, on the other hand, had more than a few ideas.

--18:35--

Minmei woke up to the sound of the phone ringing. The only people who had the number were Hikaru and the others, so naturally she didn't think twice about answering the phone. "Hello?"

"It's me, don't hang up..." Richard said on the other end.

Minmei growled. "What the hell do YOU want?!"

"I called to say I'm sorry for hurting you..."

"Again." Minmei said. "Well that's fine, you just go on being sorry. But you can do that ALONE, you don't need me anymore."

"But I DO need you! Minmei, we can work through this if we try hard enough..."

"I'm the only one trying Richard! All you ever did was go out and get drunk! You almost killed me!"

Richard hesitated for a long moment. "Minmei... I meant to tell you that I quit my job at Carson's."

"More bullshit. You got fired because Mr. Groog found out you were beating your wife!"

Richard was stunned. He found himself looking at the phone, not sure exactly if it was really there or if he was imaging things. "How'd you about that? And how'd know his name?"

"How do you think he found out you stupid asshole?!"

Richard stirred in his chair, slightly disturbed but for some reason not totally surprised. Minmei was obviously tired of waiting for him to quit his job at that advertising firm, and had decided to take matters into her own hands. He didn't blame her for this, in fact he could totally understand, but for some reason the only thing that registered was the image of his wife talking to one of those green-skinned freaks. "Okay, fair enough. But I thought I told you to stay away from Zentradi?"

"I thought I told YOU to quit drinking?"

She had a point, and there wasn't much Richard could think of to follow it. "I... look I just want to protect you."

"Then protect me from yourself, and stay away from me!" Minmei hung up the phone and turned over to go back to sleep. After a moment, it started ringing again, but she ignored it.

For 15 more minutes the phone rang in her room, and Minmei ignored it at first. As time went on, she found herself eyeballing the phone suspiciously as if it was about to jump up and try to attack her. She turned her back to it for a few minutes, stared out the window, she tried counting the number of rings, she even resorted to counting the dots on the ceiling before she finally couldn't stand it anymore and picked up the phone. "NO MORE!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. "I hate you! Stop Calling me!"

"It's my baby too Minmei! You can't just walk out on me!" Richard shouted back.

Minmei's rage exploded, and she began pouring out all of the things she had kept herself from saying for fear of her life. "You can't take responsibility for ANYTHING! You hate Zentradi because they destroy things and there you go beating me into a pulp and breaking furniture! Any time I come up with an idea you think it's stupid and you laugh at me! And another thing, it's no wonder you worry about money so much! You're such a goddamn cheapskate, but you spent more money getting bombed every week than I spend on food in a month! And you know what else, I'M the one keeping the shelves stocked every month while you go out and sleep with hookers! How are you supposed to raise a baby when you're still just a child yourself?!"

Minmei's words seem to reach across the phone lines and slap him across the face. He lowered his voice and took a moment for both of them to catch their breaths. "I still love you. You know that right?"

"You have a funny way of showing it." Minmei said, calming down again.

"Do you still love me?"

She didn't want to say no, but it didn't seem right in this situation to say yes. She decided to change the subject. "Why do you keep accusing me of cheating on you?"

"What?"

"When you're drunk. That night you tried to kill me you said something about cutting the little Zentradi mutant out of me and then you pulled out that humongous knife..."

Richard had thought his insecurities and doubts long buried since the argument in the restaurant, but now he realized some part of him obviously still had doubts. Consciously, he didn't see his suspicions as being even remotely warranted, but he couldn't help but be curious now. "You work nights at King Laos. I went there a few times just to see for myself and you weren't there. I don't care that you lied to me, but I do want to know where you spend your nights when you're not working."

She didn't want him in that part of her life. She knew it would change the depth of her relationship with him, that he would become dazzled by the sudden glare of the spotlight to the point that he wouldn't even see her at all. But at this point, she had no illusions of him being part of her life any longer, and Minmei figured this was as good a time as any. "I'm a singer Richard."

"Oh that's right. Didn't you used to perform on the Macross during the war?"

Minmei wasn't sure what he meant at first, weather he knew about her career or had simply heard about it from someone and, as usual, had not been paying attention. "Where'd you hear that?"

"I thought I remembered your name from the first time we met. And then at our wedding, Jan Morris mentioned something about the Miss Macross pageant and suddenly I remembered hearing something about this girl on the Macross doing little variety shows and stuff to entertain soldiers and help out with the war effort. We joked about it on the Lunar base, it was kinda cute."

Minmei figured as much. It stood to reason he had actually heard a few of her songs over the years and not even noticed who the singer was, or maybe like so many people she knew he was very bad at remembering names. "I did more than just entertain soldiers, Richard."

"Yeah, so you entertained a few civilians..."

"Richard I was in the business for 4 and a half years. I starred in three major motion pictures and produced 5 albums, with two separate tours across the entire continent. I've was number 2 on Time Magazine's beautiful people list in 2012 and number 4 in 2013, I've posed for 4 different fashion magazines since this ship launched, and I was cover girl on the 2014 swimsuit catalogue. I'm sure thousands of people in this city and back on Earth have my poster on their wall, not to mention alot of my friends on the SDF-2, and if you turn on the radio right now there's a good chance you can hear one of my songs. So no, I did not just "entertain soldiers." This is how I made a living."

For almost an entire minute, Richard could not think of anything to say. It was too much for him to take in, and somewhat unbelievable that all of this could have gone on around him without him knowing about it. Then again, he rarely if ever read Time magazine, he didn't watch TV that often, and he couldn't remember the last time he listened to the radio. As an afterthought, it dawned on him that he very much needed to get out more. "So you're..."

"I'm famous, I'm talented, and I'm extremely rich. Does that help to explain why I wasn't worried about money, or do you still think I'm just some careless bimbo?"

Richard rubbed his scalp in frustration. He almost wished she HAD been cheating on him. "How much?"

"20 thousand a year, IF I do absolutely nothing. And since I've been working at King Lao's, and I have been making plans to come out of retirement for weeks without tipping you off, I could easily make three times that amount by this time next year."

"Great." He grumbled as her words sank in. "So you're getting back into the spotlight and kicking me to the curb, is that it?"

"Bingo. And to think, if you had just controlled yourself, you could have been married to a major celebrity, and then you could have gone out and bought all the booze you could drink and never have to work again."

"And what about my child? You planning to raise him between coffee breaks? Take him with you at tours and concerts and them show him off on M-TV? Or are you gonna forget all this foolishness and just come back with me where you belong..."

Minmei laughed. "That's funny Rich! You want me to choose between giving my child to a violent alcoholic or raising him myself where I know he will always have a roof over his head and foot on his plate? Gee, I'll have to think about that..."

"That's not fair Minmei..."

"What about your first wife and what WOULD have been your daughter?" Minmei shot back, her words turning to acid in his ears. "If that's what you call "fair", I want no part of it."

Richard was quiet for almost a minute. He had never been able to forgive himself for that day, just as he was sure he would never forgive himself for what he had already done to Minmei. He'd bee thwarted out of two suicide attempts by the New Detroit police and fire departments before someone finally convinced him to move on with his life, which was how he ended up on the Megaroad in the first place. He'd come to this ship to put it all behind him, and somehow it followed him across 45,000 light years to this new planet Gallaron. "Why didn't you tell me?" He said at last. "Why did you put so much effort into hiding the truth from me? You should have told me from the beginning..."

"Why? So you could brag to your friends you were sleeping with a superstar? So you could take my money over to Shanty's or wherever the hell you go every night and drink yourself stupid? Richard, I didn't tell you because I wouldn't be a person to you anymore, I'd just be your little Miss Macross in a hamster cage. You'd respect me even less than you do now." 

Minmei's words cut through him like a knife. "Minmei, I can support you..."

"No you can't. We're through Richard. I'm getting Kai Chan to draw up the divorce papers as soon as I get out of here." Minmei turned on the TV and started to surf.

"Minmei, you can't do this to me!"

"And if you miss me, you can always listen to the radio or buy one of the dolls. Oh, and for 29 bucks you can own me on DVD. Albums are $15 each, $5 for singles."

"Minmei, I know I've done a horrible thing but I still love..."

"Goodbye Richard. Have a nice life." Minmei hung up the phone and went back to channel surfing. The phone rang again, and she unplugged it and went back to watching TV. After a moment, she stopped at something interesting; a story was run on the evening news that Lynn Minmei had been hospitalized after a serious accident. Her condition was unknown, and her closest friends refused to elaborate on the circumstances of the accident. She wondered if it might be poetic justice to call the papers and tell them exactly what Richard did to her and why, but somewhere in her heart she didn't want to see him dismembered by hordes of angry fans.

--20:37--

SDF-2 and the Gallaron space forces were still in hyperspace on the way to the fleet when Corina's boards lit up again. "Captain Misa, incoming message from the 2nd fleet."

Misa straitened up from her chair and cleared her daydreaming to stand in front of the main screen in front of the bridge. "Put her through."

The monitor buzzed on and an image of General Shikari appeared, just as intimidating as always. It never ceased to amaze Misa just how harmless the woman looked in person, especially compared to the feral, half barbaric person she appeared to be on the monitors. "Captain Misa, 2nd fleet is 3 hours from Soccoro-Delcaan. We expect enemy forces to pass into the system about one hour after you arrive."

"Understood." Misa was glad about this. Gallaron was close to the geometric center of the Arturo sector, and Bokata and Shiar were both at the far edge of it. Soccoro-Delcaan, L-1993A to the humans, was close to the midpoint between the edge of the sector and Shiar. They would have a nice big buffer zone, IF they had to retreat. "Shikari, we need a battle plan and we need one fast. You're supposed to be an analysist, any ideas?"

Shikari seemed to have been waiting for the question. "Kaalcha's fleet is mostly smaller protoculture ships. They can deploy reflex missiles in a huge barrage, so we should divide them up evenly as fire support units. Karga's fleet has more battleships, so we'll let him handle the heavier engagements. I'm not really sure about SDF-2 and its refit though. You might want to sit this one out..." 

"Not on your life Shikari. We're engaging. What's the next move?"

Shikari gave this some thought. "We know the enemy has a few command ships still operational, they're the most powerful ships in Lacul's arsenal. The battleships are almost as bad, but they're not as durable on their own. Either way, they have us outnumbered and outgunned and we can't go at them head on."

"Then what's your plan?"

Shikari smiled. "All we need is a few good pilots and a crazy-brave starship crew. Lacul won't stay and fight through us, he'll just try to outrun us. There's only one way to keep him from getting past us."

Another channel opened up, this time from the Phoenix not far behind them. "General, I think I can guess what you're up to and I volunteer to lead the attack."

Misa blinked slowly. "Then who'll command the Phoenix?"

"I'll leave Mike in charge until I get back. Don't worry, he knows his stuff, don't you Mike?" Broli turned to Commander Gallows next to him, and the young man gave him the thumbs up. "Great, then it's settled."

Shikari smiled. "You know the layout of that command fortress as well as I do Kaalcha, so I expect you'll know exactly what to look for."

"That's right. We'll work out the details as we go, over and out." Broli closed the channel, leaving Misa to speak with Shikari.

"If you're planning to attack Lacul's fortress, you may need some kind of diversionary tactic."

"The battle IS the diversion. Kaalcha's protoculture ships are equipped with the advanced fold systems. Even in this region of space..." 

One of Shikari's officers, a slender woman with dark purple hair appeared next to her. "General, I'd like to join the attack force."

Shikari looked at her, then back at Misa. "One moment captain." Shikari closed the channel and turned to commander Elensh. "What are you talking about?"

"They need good pilots ma'am, you know that. Under the circumstances we'll both agree I'm the best you've got!"

"Exactly. You're the best I've got. That's why I need you here..."

"My Queadlunn-Rau only has one arm. Let me take a Valkyrie or a Lighting and I'll join the strike group! PLEASE General, this is the chance of a lifetime!"

Shikari could more than understand how she felt. Commander Elensh had the heard of a Zentradi pounding in her chest, and an operation like this was just too much to ignore for a combat pilot. "Alright. Take a VF-4 and transfer to Kaalcha's ship as soon as they defold."

Imura almost fell over in excitement. "Thank you commander! I'll get a fighter ready immediately!"

Shikari watched her dart off the bridge and down the tunnel and reopened the communication line to Misa's ship to plan strategy.

--27:20 GST--

For Richard, the solution was obvious. Minmei wasn't answering the phone, which suited him because she seemed to have grown bolder without having to look him in the eye. Of course he tried calling her again and again, and naturally there was no answer. He was starting to get upset about this and alittle indignant over his wife's attitude towards him, her who was carrying his child and had somehow got the notion into her head that she could simply walk out on him just like that. It was upsetting to think Minmei could be so disrespectful to a man who had worked his ass off to support her, so of course Richard did what he always did when he got upset. He fixed himself a drink. 15 minutes later, he fixed himself another drink. 5 minutes later he fixed himself yet another drink. He was only starting to feel relaxed when all of a sudden he found himself sitting on the couch in front of the TV with an empty wine bottle in his hands. He didn't remember getting it much less opening it, and in the back of his mind it occurred to him that this was the way it always was, he never seemed to keep track of how much he drank at once. But in the front of his mind, closer to the surface, Richard was on the verge of making a decision. Half drunken and slightly drowsy, he made up his mind to go out right then to see Minmei, hopefully to set her strait once and for all. 

He took the bus to 18th street and walked to Valkyrie Boulevard, paused at a McDonalds to throw up in the bathroom, then took another bus to the airfield and walked over to the military hospital. By the time he got there, he was just starting to think semi-clearly again, though it would be a few more minutes before he could remember all the reasons why he had tried to call her instead of risking visiting her in person. He knew what room she was in, and since he'd heard on the news about the major fleet action he knew her friends wouldn't be there to back her up. There would be nothing between them, nothing to influence her mind, and she would have to face him honestly. 

He walked into the building, through the waiting room and past the front desk towards the elevators. Apparently, the woman at the front desk noticed him and called him back around the corner. "Excuse me sir, do you have an appointment?" Richard looked over his shoulder for a moment and then kept on walking. "Wait, hold it!" Richard picked up the pace down the hall, half jogging to get to the elevators quickly. Two MPs heard the shouting and came running down the hall behind him, but Richard was already at the elevators and heard the ringing as one of them stopped on his floor. He darted over to the doors just as they opened... and found himself standing face to face with Colonel Ichijo and Lieutenant Chan.

"Mr. Powel, just the man I was looking for..." Hikaru said, stepping out of the elevator.

The two MPs came up behind him, and Richard bolted the other way in hopes of finding an escape only to find Kai Chan standing there in his path. He looked at Hikaru, then the two MPs, then Lieutenant Chan, and then he started laughing. "Oh, this is just great...."

"Isn't it?" Kai Chan said closing in and making sure he couldn't get free. "We'll take it from here Sergeant. Go up take care of Miss Lynn." The two MPs nodded and stepped into the elevator they had just walked out of. 

Richard shifted his weight nervously. "Uhhhh... you see, I was just on my way to talk to Minmei..."

"Sure you were." Kai Chan grabbed his arm like a vice and lead him down the hall in the opposite direction. "Outside, Mr. Powel. I think we need to have a little chat."

Richard looked at Kai Chan "Okay look, this is what happened. I..."

"We know what happened, Richard. You were trying to kill Minmei, and Kai Chan stopped you." Hikaru said, grabbing his other arm.

"Now wait a second! It wasn't my fault..."

"Really? Then that was Minmei trying to disembowel HERSELF?" Kai Chan pushed open one of the fire exits in the back of the building. Richard tried to pull free, but Lieutenant Chan twisted his arm and shoved him face first into the brick wall across the alley. "Now I pride myself on being fair and impartial, so I'm gonna give you 15 seconds to explain why I'm not gonna beat the living shit outa you."

Kai released his grip and pushed him back into the wall, leaving him cornered between him and Hikaru. "Well..." Richard thought fast. He was sure any answer he gave would be wrong, so he decided to try a psychological approach. "Look, I have a problem, okay? I know I have a problem and I've been trying to control it, but Minmei... okay you know sometimes you get the urge to strangle somebody, but something in the back of your mind tells you no."

"You have no idea. 10 seconds."

"I love Minmei so much, but sometimes she can be so irritating and... well when I have too much to drink that part of me that controls my actions just kinda goes to sleep... "

"5 seconds. Finish up."

"She's my wife and the mother of my child and you don't have the right to keep us apart..."

"Times up." Kai Chan said, taking off his jacket. "Oh, incase you were wondering, Minmei saw you walking across the street from the cafeteria window. We had to give her a mild sedative just to calm her down, and even after that she's curled up in a corner of her room trembling in terror because she thinks you're here to kill her for what she said to you on the phone."

Richard looked at both of them for a long moment, then looked at the sky and shook his head in disbelief. "I just can't get a break with you can I?" He asked vacantly. He half expected to be hit by a bolt of lighting or struck by a meteorite as his answer, but then he realized that would be overkill in light of what Hikaru and Kai Chan were probably planning. With one sudden movement, Richard bolted and ran down the alley faster than he had ever run before in his life. 

Hikaru watched him scramble away and followed at relaxed walking pace as Kai Chan caught up to him barely 8 feet away and tackled him to the concrete. Richard rolled over and started to sit up, and Kai put him back down again with his fist. "Now you listen to me!" Hikaru said, grabbing his collar. "From this point on, you are a stranger. You don't touch her, you don't talk to her, you don't even LOOK at her ever again!"

Richard pulled away and lurched to his feet, seeing his escape impossible and feeling desperation set in. "Who the hell do you think you are?! Who are you to judge ME?! That is MY wife up there!"

"Not anymore!" Hikaru and Kai Chan rushed him as one person and tackled him to the ground again; no more time to talk.

Kai found this all too familiar, Richard simply wouldn't stay down. Hikaru found it somewhat entertaining; he was like one of those inflatable clowns that never tips over. With a hard right he would knock the man flat on his ass, and Richard would always just bounce back up to his feet and come out swinging again, and of course one of the two of them would put him right back down again. Richard began to slow down, finding himself caught between the two of them in a bombardment of fists and boots smashing against his body from literally every direction, leaving dark bruises with every impact and leaving cuts and blisters in others. This went on for 10 minutes, two men hammering away at one relentlessly and methodically, savoring every minute of it while they could. Somewhere in the back of his mind Hikaru was glad Corina or Broli were away with the fleet; the kind of pounding the two of them could produce on one human being was the stuff of nightmares. 

They were 10 minutes into it, and Richard's left eye was swollen shut and bleeding from the lip before he finally stopped getting up. Not that it stopped there; Hikaru and Kai Chan spent the next few minutes attempting to kick a field goal with his torso, with Kai Chan winning the game by just getting the man airborne with one good punt off the ribs. They kept at it for a few minutes until they were sure at least one of his ribs was broken and then reduced to holding him down on his back and pounding his face in in traditional schoolyard style. 

After what seemed like an hour the anticipated moment finally came. With one final strong kick to the ribs Colonel Ichijo reached into his jacket and drew his gun, then loaded it and chambered the first round. "Well it's been fun Mr. Powel, but it's time to send you packing."

Richard looked up at him from the pavement, his vision blurred and his one eye unable to focus, but he could just make out the outline of a gun against his forehead. "You can't do that..." He said, still catching his breath from where Hikaru's boot had knocked the wind out of him.

"What do you mean I can't do that? All I have to do is pull the trigger." Hikaru pulled back the hammer and pressed the gun against Richard's forehead. "If you had only stayed away like we told you..."

A voice called out from above them, slicing through the failing twilight in a scolding tone that Hikaru, having been married to Misa Hayase for 4 and a half years, had grown all too used to. "Hikaru!" All three of them looked up at the hospital to see Minmei leaning out the window, supporting most of her weight on a crutch. "Don't you dare shoot him!" she shouted. The fear in her eyes had almost seemed to triple now that she was in Richard's line of sight, and even from here Hikaru could see her hands shaking.

"Oh c'mon, Minmei! We can't just let him walk away after..."

"You promised me Hikaru! You PROMISED me!" Minmei pointed out the window at Hikaru's head as if sentencing him. "He made a horrible mistake, but I don't want you to kill him! Just do something to make him go away!"

Hikaru looked at Richard and shook his head in disbelief. "You lucky bastard." With one last movement, he adjusted his grip on the gun and cracked Richard across the head with the handle, leaving him unconscious on the ground next to the dumpster.

The two of them left him lying there and went back into the building through the fire exit, took the elevator up to the fourth floor and found Minmei sitting in a chair next to the window with her back to the wall. Obviously, the sedatives had taken a little longer than usual to kick in. "Now you see what I've had to put up with?"

Hikaru and Kai Chan took chairs across from her and sat facing her. "Why'd you stay with him so long?"

Minmei blushed slightly. "Well it's kind of embarrassing."

"C'mon, I won't gossip." Kai said playfully.

Minmei sighed. "I'm a fool, Hikaru. This whole relationship went WAY too fast until it finally spiraled out of control. He got me pregnant the first time we were intimate together, and when he proposed to me I didn't even give it a second thought. I didn't even realize it had happened until I skipped another period and I started getting sick all the time... needless to say, I was in WAY over my head."

"I'd have to agree with you." Hikaru said evenly.

Minmei looked out the window where Richard was just starting to regain consciousness. "I still thought we could make it work, I thought he would understand and that maybe years from now we'd look back on this as our brief time in the fast lane before we settled down... hell I'm sure it WOULD have worked out if it weren't for that one little detail..."

"...that he's a raging alcoholic. I guess that makes sense..." Hikaru said, looking out the window as Richard heaved to his feet and staggered off into the darkness. "Minmei, I wish I could stay here with you but I'm moving to SDF-04 with Miko tomorrow."

"Misa told me, I know. What's left in the house?"

"Anything that wasn't in the bedroom or the basement. It's your house now, and so's the car... and anything left in the fridge is fair game."

Minmei looked at him questionably. "Are you guys sure about this?"

"We're positive. I hired out one of the neighbors and we've already moved most of Misa's stuff and some of my stuff onto the shuttle, and even that's not much. All that's left right now are Miko's toys and her bed. The rest is all yours, feel free to redecorate and trash as you see fit."

Minmei smiled. "Hikaru why are you always so nice to me?"

Hikaru left the chair and kissed Minmei on the forehead. "Because of the part of me that still loves you." He winked at her one last time and left the room. "Call me if you need anything."

"Okay." Minmei watched him go, and then turned to Kai Chan and . "And as for you Lieutenant, why are YOU so nice to me?"

Kai shrugged. "I dunno, I just am. Why?"

"You trying to get into my pants or something?" Minmei said playfully.

"I wouldn't think of it. Besides, you're not wearing any."

Minmei self-consciously pulled the hospital gown to cover more of her legs and looked up at Kai Chan blushing. Kai chuckled at her reaction, and Minmei blushed more. "That wasn't funny."

"Yes it was." He said grinning.

"No, it wa... okay maybe alittle funny."

"Just alittle." Kai said agreeably.

"Yeah, just alittle." Minmei stood up and started hobbling over to the cafeteria on her crutch. "Those sedatives make me hungry. Could you... like, follow me around in case I fall over?"

"Sure, no problem." Kai stood up to follow her out of the room.

_________________________________________________________________________

NOTE:

This will be the last chapter update until next** Sunday morning, August 18th**. I'll be moving into a new house starting this weekend and is the earliest estimate I have as to when my phone service will be restored. Please know that this is NOT the end of the story, and that starting Sunday I will pick up right where I left off with _Chapter 30: Face to Face_. Until then, everybody STAY TUNED! ^_^


	31. Chapter 30: Face to Face

****

Chapter 30: Face to Face

--July 19, 2016--

--20:15 GST--

A powerful defold reaction lit the skies near Shikari's main fleet. The entire armed forces of the GSDF was finally assembled at Soccoro-Delcaan. Misa stood on the bridge of her ship, brooding over Shikari's plan with a nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach. It seemed like just the kind of thing a Zentradi would think of, but for some reason it just didn't feel right. An armada of thousands of ships was about to come storming through this system and the Gallaron's little fleet was the only thing that could stop them from getting to Earth... and now they were going to trapped here with them for days or weeks. She had faith that Shikari knew what she was doing, she had to be at least as smart as Exodor. 

SDF-2 made formation with several destroyers, equidistant from Karga and Shikari's battleships with several other Zentradi battleships closer to the front. Shikari had, once again, redone all the fold calculations based on the last reports from the scout ships in order to catch the enemy off guard. They would defold right into their line of fire, assuming of course Lacul didn't take into account the presence of a reckless genius like Shikari among them and change his exit vector to give himself some distance from them. Shikari expected he might do something like this, and so she had already started running equations and statistics to formulate a plan-B. 

On the Phoenix, Broli and Viper Squadron were on standby in the hangar while Mike ran the ship from the bridge, once again. Broli had seen him in action, and tutored him a bit on the way back from Zjen-Kari on some command pointers, and now he felt confident the ship was in good hands. Broli had taken some extra time to check over his fighter and make sure everything was functioning normally, but as he waited in the hangar with the other pilots for the word on the enemy fleet, Broli couldn't help but notice one of the new Zentradi pilots in the room, a gorgeous meltran with dark purple hair in a UN flight suit. He knew all 450 pilots on the ship, but for some reason he had never seen her before. "Excuse me..." He said, walking over to her. "I'm Captain Broli, strike leader of this mission. I'm afraid we haven't been introduced."

The meltran looked up at him with a grin. "I'm Commander Imura Elensh, Quodrono leader under General Shikari."

"Elensh? Oh that's right, you transferred here for the attack. What brings you to the Phoenix anyway?"

Imura smiled coyly. "A few things. I'd like to get a shot at Lacul, and I'd also like a chance to prove myself in battle. But mostly, I wanted to see you."

"Me?"

Elensh looked around and lowered her voice. "The General is concerned about you. She realizes you care for Commander Matheson and she worries that it may affect your judgment. What she doesn't realize is just how much SHE cares about you. It may affect her judgment without her knowledge, especially if things don't go as planned."

Broli had never thought of this, but it didn't seem too far fetched. Shikari was never one to lack confidence in her own abilities, and she would be the last one to admit something like that. "You're here as my bodyguard?"

"Partially. It'll put her mind at ease to know someone she trusts is flying on your wing."

Broli smiled. "Good idea, I'll take that offer. Now, I'm not an archivist like Shikari or Korazan, but I'm guessing there's something else on your mind. In fact, I'm getting the feeling ALOT of people have this problem but I gave my word I wouldn't go gossiping about it and starting up a bunch of rumors."

Elensh leaned against the side of her fighter. "I can respect that, I'm going to be flying on your wing, and I think it would make things alot easier if you leveled with me. Now tell me, why is Minmei in the hospital?"

Broli sighed. "She got married to a dangerous man and he lost his temper and almost killed her. That's pretty much it."

"That's what I heard, but why is she still in the hospital? I've heard from a few people that the hospitals usually release people after a few days if they're not that badly injured. Half of my Quodrono squadron is sitting on the Karatsul, gnawing on their fingernails."

Broli nodded. "You're right, she wasn't injured that badly. But you see..." He looked around to see if anyone was within earshot. "Don't tell anyone else this."

"I won't. I just want to know..."

"She's pregnant."

Imura stared at him for a moment. "She's what?"

"She... Ummm... well she's going to have offspring, reproduce. You know, procreation."

Imura blinked slowly. "I don't have any idea what you're talking about. When you say reproduction, do you mean... do you mean she's going to be cloned or something?"

Broli wasn't sure why he expected her to know about human reproduction, a concept totally foreign to the majority of Zentradi who had not spent much time among humans. "Just ask Shikari to explain it to you after the mission. Anyway, the doctors kept her for a few extra days to make sure everything was okay, and to keep an eye on her so she didn't go getting herself into more trouble."

Imura nodded in understanding. "I suppose that makes sense. After all, she is a very important person to..." 

The alert siren rang in the corridors of the ship and in the hangar. The half drowsy pilots of the Phoenix snapped awake and ran to the cockpits of the fighters. Imura started to climb the ladder into her VF-4 Lighting while Broli ran across the deck to get to his own VF-4. All of the fighters were equipped with FAST pack boosters on the top of the main body between the engine nacelles, and but Broli's fighter, as the squad leader, had one double action beam cannon on the right side. "This is Viper 100 to Gunsight Two, what's going on out there?"

Mike appeared on Broli's monitor in full Captain's uniform. Broli wasn't sure exactly where he got the uniform but he was inclined to let the man enjoy himself while it lasted. "Enemy ships have defolded into this system at a range of about 3 million kilometers from our current position. The battleships are moving to the front to engage with their main cannons, and the gunships are powering up."

Broli sighed. This meant that they would be resorting to plan-B. "Alright then, I guess we're folding. Keep me informed."

Mike nodded. "Roger that. Shikari's working with the navigators on fold calculations as we speak. I'll let you know before we go for it." 

--20:20 GST--

The roar of the rockets started to dwindle away, and Hikaru closed the turbojets and switched to his internal reactors. He didn't have much fuel left after the push from Gallaron's high gravity, but he had more then enough to get them to the new ship. As soon as he was sure they were floating freely in space, Hikaru looked back over his shoulder at the four year old asleep in the back seat. Miko had yelled all through the launch and the 6G vertical push into space, and now as gravity dwindled down to nothing, she was more peaceful than she had ever been. The cockpit of a fighter was about the only time he could ever get her to sleep without a fight, but this time he would have to wake her up so she could see the ship.

Skull Zero flew around the planet in low orbit for half an hour to get around to Alpha Factory. As soon as they were on the night side of the planet, Hikaru kicked his engines in again and started to change orbits to where he knew the ship was waiting for its new captain to begin its shakedown flight. And finally, there it was. A battlecruiser 1250 meters in length with two grappler modules attached to the sides of it. If Hikaru hadn't known better, he would have sworn it was the SDF-1, but the only telltale differences were the markings on the hull... the flag of the GSDF... and the massive retracted fingers of the ship's grappler modules. The variable fighter was closing in now, and Hikaru reached back and shook Miko. "Time to wake up sweetie. We're at our new home."

Miko stirred behind him, yawned widely in her helmet and then looked out the window. "Wow! Is that it?!"

"Yup. That's SDF-04. They call it the Monitor."

Miko stared at the ship with wide eyes. "Are we really gonna live there daddy?"

Hikaru nodded. "That's right. And after the battle's over, we're gonna go see mommy all the time."

Miko leaned forward as the fighter came closer to the ship. As he knew was expected of him, Hikaru made a slow pass over the hull so she could see it, but he found himself looking over the hull in surprise himself. As much as this ship looked like the Macross, there were many differences. The hull seemed rougher, less refined somehow, and there were many more markings along the armor panels for some purpose he was sure he would never know. He also noticed was a group of 6 Destroid monsters lined up on the hull just bellow the forward gun turrets, and the gun turrets themselves actually looked more like the ground based batteries in the protoculture cities, the small scale superdimensional energy cannons that could generate amazing firepower at incredible ranges. The bridge and command tower were unchanged, but the separation planes around the modules of the vessel seemed different somehow. Hikaru knew this was because of the new technologies in the refit; SDF-Monitor was designed for rapid transformations to and from combat mode, giving this ship the ability to quickly move into a battle zone and engage an enemy target, then switching back into cruiser mode and moving on more quickly. In this way, the ship itself could fight like a variable fighter, but Hikaru knew it was nowhere near as good as the real thing. "There's the landing bay Miko."

"Where?"

"Over there."

"Where?" Miko said again. She looked over the side of the plane and saw one of the large hatches opening on the side of the grappler hull. "Oh, I see."

Hikaru brought the fighter around and lined it up on approach. "You watching Miko?"

"Yeah."

He looked at the display and lined up his glide path, and as smoothly as he could he eased the fighter into the main hangar on the side of the grappler module and set the plane down on its landing gears with a soft thud. "See? It's easy. You could do this too some day."

"Can I do it tomorrow?"

Hikaru laughed and opened the canopy. "Not THAT soon. Maybe when you're older." He picked up Miko from the back seat and started to climb down from the plane. Almost as soon as he was down, he noticed Miko seemed about 40 pounds lighter than the last time he picked her up, and he suddenly remembered that the ship was adjusted for Earth gravity. The main doors of the hangar closed behind them and the chamber filled with atmosphere, and in moments Hikaru was greeted by three young officers in flight suits. "Colonel Ichijo, requesting permission to come aboard." He said saluting.

All three of them saluted back. "Permission granted. Welcome aboard Colonel. We just received your transfer-of-command orders. Good to have to here."

"Thank you Ensign." Hikaru lifted Miko and put her on his shoulders as he walked along with the two officers out of the hangar. "What's the crew look like?"

"Mostly volunteer protoculture and a few Zentradi. Alot of them are still getting used to having all their equipment working again. Your first officer used to play on this ship as kid back when it was still a half buried wreck."

Hikaru laughed. "Well at least he's familiar with it. I heard you were building a city block?"

The other ensign nodded. "Pilot and troop barracks came first, then a few living quarters for the officers and a 250 by 50 meter tower building for the protocrans. Then King Lao opened up a restaurant here, and had some of his friends move onboard the ship to support it so we build apartments for them, a few bands moved onboard along with a nightclub, a strip club, a liquor store and a movie theatre. The rest of the city just kinda grew on its own from there."

The three Ensigns led Hikaru and Miko into a jeep to take them into the main ship for a brief tour. "How many people?"

"19,000." Another ensign answered. "I know that's less than the Macross, but it's already getting cramped."

"I'm not surprised..." The jeep passed through a winding corridor and through a large hatch into the city block. Hikaru looked around them as they drove through and noticed that everything in the town was much closer together, the streets were narrower, and almost all of the buildings were taller. He also noticed that the jeep took up two lanes of traffic, and after they passed a crowd of hundreds of people on bicycles he came to the conclusion that no one in the entire ship owned a car. "This city's smaller than Macross City isn't it?"

"Yup. Macross's city block took up twice as much space and two main levels. The upper level of this city is for full sized crewmen and powered armor pilots... 

"...And lets not forget the Destroid Monster squadron." Hikaru said.

The Ensigns laughed. "You saw them outside didn't you?"

Hikaru nodded. "Lined up out there on the forward hull. MAN those things are scary."

"They sure are." The jeep stopped in front of a large apartment building next to the main starboard bulkhead of the city block. Hikaru recognized it, he'd seen it before when they were building it inside the ship before they finished refitting the exterior. "It's kind of a small town, but you'll get used to it. Just over half the population are soldiers or officers, but there are plenty of civilians."

Hikaru reached into the back seat and picked up Miko, who by this time had already fallen asleep again. "Any families or kids?"

"A few." One of them said. "I know the owner of that Chinese restaurant has two little ones, and I'm sure there's others. Most of the civilians brought their families along just like you."

Hikaru thought about this. It seemed like a fairly good arrangement that gave Miko plenty of prospects, even assuming they had to be stuck on this ship for the next 10 years without any new faces, in which case she would have plenty of friends. "I'm gonna get fly-girl to bed and then I'll report in to the command tower. Page me if you need anything."

"Right." The Ensigns started the car again and drove off while Hikaru carried the sleeping Miko into their new home. The officer's suites were on the first floor, and Hikaru's was mercifully close to the front door and the ice machine. Everything they planned to bring with them, all the things from Miko's room and anything else he or Misa needed from the house had already been moved, and Hikaru found Miko's bed already waiting to receive one exhausted 4 year old. As gently as he could, he took off her space suit and folded it across a chair, then took off her shoes and socks and tucked the little girl under the sheets. "Welcome to the eagle's nest Miko." He said. Miko turned in her sleep, and Hikaru kissed her goodnight. "Sleep well, little bird. First thing tomorrow, we're gonna test your wings."

--20:25 GST--

It was good to be up and about again, and the other patients on the 4th floor were more than willing to agree. Minmei's dislocated hip was still slowing her down, and it was painful to sit down and stand up again with her broken ribs, but all in all it was rewarding to be out there like this. At breakfast in the cafeteria, she and one of the nurses did a duet of Silver Moon to cheer up one of the pilots from Broli's fleet who had lost both of his legs in battle, but every minute more wounded officers were brought into the hospital, some slightly injured, some much worse. It reminded Minmei of who she was, someone who inspired people, someone who made people feel good about themselves just by doing what she enjoyed doing.

The doctor's had just finished examining her in her room when the phone rang again, and she could more than guess who it was. "Hello?"

"It's me again."

"Hi. I'm healing fast, as if you cared. I'll be up there in a few days to pick up my stuff, and in case you were wondering that includes the crib."

Richard paused for a moment. "I think we should talk about this. I want to talk to you face to face... just the two of us."

Minmei sighed. "Yeah, right. I'm gonna fall for this again, and we'll be right back where we started."

"You have to give me another chance!" Richard said, desperation slipping into his voice. "I have to see you again! You're the light of my life Minmei!"

Minmei giggled. "I'm the light of ALOT of people's lives, Richard. Now you'll just have to wait in line for the albums like everyone else."

Richard looked out the window of the apartment. "Remember our honeymoon? Up on that hill with the trees all around us?"

Minmei looked out the window of the room and saw the hills on the other side of the great lake. It was just a bump on the horizon from here, but she could almost see the tree stump where he had massaged her shoulders every morning. "I remember."

"The only thing stopping us before was money. Obviously, that's no longer a problem. We could build our dream house up there and raise our children together. I'll get help and I'll get control of myself."

"And you'd have to stop hating Zentradi. I'm not raising a bigot."

Richard growled. "I'll give it a shot."

Minmei looked out the window at the hills again. Much to her dismay, she found that her dreams for their life together had survived his attack, though her left shoulder and her original fingerprints were almost totally destroyed. With every fiber of her being she wanted to be back with him, back in his arms where she felt like the only woman in the world. And with every fiber of her being she knew it was a horrible mistake that would cost her the life of herself and her child. Somehow, she started to think of ways to keep him under control, maybe building a secret room under the floorboards for her or the kids to hide in case he seemed to be out of it, or maybe forcing him to go to an AA meeting sometime, or maybe just the idea of being married to a superstar would keep him in line for fear of tabloid persecution. Not that any of that would have stopped him before... "I get out of here in three more days. Meet me in the forest by the lake, right across from that old building that kinda looks like a church at 9:30 PM. And come alone."

Richard could just barely see it from where the apartment was, but he knew what she was talking about. "I'll be there."

"And Richard, if you try anything... if you so much as TOUCH me... I'm going strait to the police and I'm sending you for a nice long vacation."

"I understand." Richard said slowly. "I give you my word, I'll be as gentle as a puppy."

--25:10 GST--

The Zentradi gunboats all fired another barrage, sending hundreds of enemy ships on a one way trip to oblivion. Most of the larger battleships and command ships remained mostly intact with their barriers taking most of the damage, and now the enemy ships fired back with gunboats and battleships and 5 of their command ships, smashing into the barriers of the Gallaron fleet and sending arcs of displaced energy blasting into space around the fleet. The Supervision counter attack destroyed only one ship with the first salvo, a Thuveral-Salan destroyer that had been suffering engine problems for several hours. The Gallaron ships and the Supervision Army now traded punches with everything they had, though at this range they were still much too far away to fire reflex missiles with any degree of accuracy. Misa felt confident things might go their way for a change, but there was one more thing she needed in order to prove that. "Sara, status on main cannon?"

Sara looked at the consol and checked over all the systems. "Final systems checks completed, and the simulations are showing positive results."

"Power status?"

"She's ready to shoot sir, but the capacitor takes about 10 minutes to recharge."

Misa whistled in amazement. "Okay, open main gunport and prepare to fire main cannon."

Sara gave a slight squeak of excitement. "Right away sir!" Outside the ship, the shudders of the forward hull of the newly remolded SDF-2 slid back, opening the bow of the ship and exposing the main cannon to the space outside for the first time. Within the hull, arks of energy began to gather between the four massive booms of the cannon and tiny points of light began to coalesce in front of the bow. "Energy condenser fully charged. Particle lens has achieved focus. Energy level rising..." Misa could see something flashing in front of the bow of the ship. Tiny points of light were swarming around the opening like fireflies, moving faster and faster as the energy built up within the ship's hull. The new experimental particle lens would focus all that energy into a devastating blast more powerful than even the largest Supervisionist warships; Misa couldn't wait to see it in action. "Ready sir." Sara said at last.

Misa sighed. "Well here goes nothing... Fire the main cannon!"

Sara pulled the lever on her consol and the light in front of the bow grew more and more intense until in suddenly surged in brilliance. A blast of energy exploded from within the hull of the SDF-2, reaching across space before tearing strait through several enemy battleships and dozens of destroyers, then striking the one of the command ships close to Lacul's base ship. The barrier of the vessel lasted only a fraction of a second before the beam vaporized the entire vessel, and now the firing path of SDF-2's main cannon was framed by explosions. "Direct hit sir! We've destroyed... holy shit! 50 enemy ships with one blast!"

"Right. Now lets recharge and get 50 more." The gunport in front of the ship closed again and Misa felt the deck lurch as a burst of fire from an enemy heavy laser cannon hit the pinpoint barriers. Out in the distance, Misa could see the explosions as the first Lighting squadrons fired reflex weapons against the enemy fleet, fighting their way through galaxies of Glaug battlepods and interceptor pods to deliver their ordinance to the enemy forces. The main holoscreen in front of the bridge flashed a warning, and Misa didn't need to be told what it meant. "This is Delta One calling Delta Two, the enemy fleet is preparing to fold again! We can't wait much longer!"

Another bombardment from the battleships cut into the formation of Gallaron vessels. The pinpoint barriers caught most of the flak, but a few Zentradi ships took direct hits and started to fall back with damages. Shikari's ship was taking alot of fire, but its two pinpoint barriers were keeping the ship relatively undamaged until at last the fold calculations were ready. "This is Delta Two calling Gunsight Two, nav coordinates ready. Commence fold operations immediately."

Mike had been waiting for this. "Roger that. Uploading data." The navigators input the fold calculations from Shikari's computer and powered up the ship's main fold system. The advanced fold drives on this vessel were very precise, now was the time to put them to the test. 

"Space fold in 10 seconds!" Amelia shouted from the first officer's station.

Broli called up from the fighter bays. "All fighters standby! We have to get clear of the ship as fast as possible!"

There was a brief pauses as the fold systems powered up, and Commander Gallows watched the pulsating flashes of light began to wave in front of him before disappearing altogether as the ship slipped into hyperspace. Half a second later, the ship emerged again and the view changed. SDF-102 was now inside Lacul's Fulbtz-Berrenz command base, surrounded on all sides by literally hundreds of enemy vessels. Broli's fighter was already suspended outside the ship on a docking arm when Phoenix defolded, and as soon as the view became still he popped the locks and hit his afterburners. "GO NOW!" Viper squadron launched, and all the Lightings that had been standing on the hull pushed off and transformed into fighter mode. All of them managed to clear the ship in under 4 seconds and the Phoenix immediately fired all of its reflex missiles directly into the central core. 6 Thor class destroyers defolded into the base behind it and fired all of their missiles, striking the core and filling the artificial sky with tremendous shock waves. All 7 of the ships hit their reflex barriers just as the shockwaves hit them, and then dropped them again to fire off a blast from their beam weapons at any ship in sight.

Mike was immediately impressed with the ship's refit. The particle cannons installed in the Phoenix cut down an enemy cruiser with just one blast, and the enemy ships had been so totally taken by surprise that they were only now opening their gunports to engage them. Mike watched Broli's fighter wing zip off into space and prepared to fire another barrage from the reflex missiles when he noticed something moving near the core. "Amelia, give me a visual of that spot."

Lieutenant Ryder put the image up on the holoscreen, and Mike stared at it for a moment. He was looking at the image of a section of the now battered core fluttering and warping as if something were pushing its way through the metal. Mike didn't know what it was, but he certainly didn't like it. "Ensign Sanders, prepare to fire the main cannon. That might be a weak spot or some kind of..." On the monitors, Mike saw and entire section of the core blast open like a volcano. Something pushed its way through the metal and out of the opening, a humanoid figure almost 600 meters from head to toe. Mike wasn't sure at first, but after a moment he was certain. It was changing, growing bigger every second and growing bulkier with ever heartbeat. A massive Zentradi soldier, enhanced by centuries of steady genetic restructuring; in a few moments Lacul was almost 2 kilometers tall, eyes glowing fiery red and face twisted in an expression of rage. And then his gaze centered on the Phoenix. "Jesus fucking Christ! What the hell is that?!" Mike shouted, leaning half over the side of the bridge. There was a flashing of light on the bridge as the main cannon powered up again, apparently at Lieutenant Sander's discretion. "Sanders, blast him!" A half a second later, the main cannon powered up and fired a single blast at the giant body of Lacul.

The beam smashed right into him, and much to the shock and amazement of everyone watching, the energy beam glanced off of an energy field around him without even leaving a mark. "Damn you protoculture! I'll crush you like ants!" Lacul reached out with his hands and fired back, striking one of the protoculture destroyers next to the Phoenix. The beam smashed right through two of the pinpoint barriers before hitting the hull of the ship, blowing it in half with just one blast. 

Mike shook his head in disbelief. "I don't believe this! What the hell is he?!" Lacul turned towards the Phoenix now, and Mike felt a chill run down his spine. "Evasive action, barrier system standby! We just have to hold out until Broli's wing can nail their fold system!" Lacul fired another blast strait at the ship, and Amelia raised the port grappler module and all four pinpoint barriers to block it. By some miracle, the four barriers absorbed the energy, and Amelia transferred helm control to her consol to move the ship away from Lacul. The giant Zentran followed them, firing yet another blast at the ship that struck the side of the base ship a few hundred meters behind them. Mike looked at the rear monitors and sat back in his chair, totally unable to feel his legs. "Just hang on! Broli'll be finished in a few minutes..." Another blast struck out, this time blasting another one of the protoculture ships behind them. The other Supervisionist warships now started to fire on the Phoenix, but the ship was now moving much too fast for them to get a lock on it. "Amelia, I'm counting on you to keep us out of that thing's line of fire!"

"I'll try sir..."

Even as she spoke, Lacul came around the core to chase them, suspended over the ship's gravity field by what forces Mike could not guess. The giant Zentran was still about 400 kilometers away from them towards the core, but even that was much too close. Mike also noticed one other thing, every second Lacul fought like this seemed to be taking its toll on him, as if the creature's energy was limited somehow. If the protocran myths were right about the Supervision Army stealing people's souls, it was pretty easy to guess what he would do when he ran out of energy. "Gunsight to all fighters, we've got trouble! Hurry up down there!"


	32. Chaoter 31: Aerosmith

****

Chapter 31: Aerosmith

--July 22, 2016--

--25:15 GST--

The enemy response was much faster than he would have expected. Though it would take the Supervision warships a few more minutes to power up their weapon systems and take any kind of action against them, the skies of the command ship were already full of Glaug battlepods. The 1000 kilometer chamber inside the ship was now an insanity of explosions and missiles swarming in every direction as interceptors and powered suits battled intensely with the variable fighters. All 500 fighters of the attack group moved closer and closer to the engineering block at the base of the central core. A formation of more than a thousand Glaug battlepods stood between them and their objective; Splinter squadron fired a spread of multi-warhead reflex missiles into the cloud of enemy pods while most of the other squadrons switched to gerwalk mode and launched a spread of medium missiles. Viper and Thor Squadrons were armed with anti-ship reflex missiles, and they had no intention of getting caught up with an exhaustive and dangerous aerial battle. 

"Strike Leader to all fighters, we're goin in at full throttle! We'll push right through them!" Broli's fighters formed up behind him and went to full afterburner and full thrust on their booster packs. The defending enemy mecha seemed only too aware of what he was trying to do, and the storm of fire from the pods and the interceptors was so thick he could barely see through it, but acting on instinct alone he managed to twist his plane through the worst of it and avoid any real damage. He fired a spread of micro missiles from the FAST packs to help clear a path, but even as 5 Glaugs exploded in front of him, 5 Lightings came flying apart behind him. Two pods drifted in front of his fighter, and Broli fired a linked blast with his main laser cannons and the double beam cannon on the left booster to destroy both of them at once. He spotted a flash to his left from several VF-4s firing with their own lasers, and all of them now dove strait through the enemy pods towards their target. "Strike Leader to all fighters, target ahead! Follow my lead, we'll only have time for one pass!"

The section of the central core that contained the fold system was close to the bottom of the ship, and the attack group was almost close enough to fire their missiles. Three squadrons of Lightings charged with him towards the target at full afterburner, finally arriving at the opening to find a dozen or more Zentran powered armors waiting for them along the hull. Broli managed to switch to gerwalk and pull up just in time to avoid a blast from one of their impact cannons, but flinched as something shot past his cockpit, missing him by barely two meters. Commander Elensh's Lighting had come a hair's breadth away from clipping his canopy with her wings, and now she was diving into the entrance at full throttle. "Commander, watch yourself! The enemy has fortified their defenses...!" 

Imura ignored him; she switched to battloid mode and drew two gunpods from the belly of the fighter. She fired a long burst from both pods into the formation, destroying several of them on the first pass and firing off several micro missiles as she sailed past them and started circling again. Half of the enemy suits were destroyed, and the other half were pounded from a distance by the laser cannons from the other fighters. "Captain Broli, call me old fashioned, but I think you might be out of your league here. This is the kind of operation best left to a woman." From the tone of her voice, she almost sounded bored.

"Stow it Elensh! I'm in charge here so get used to it!" Broli cut off the G-limiter in the fighter and pushed his throttles to full power. He knew Imura could still take more Gs than he could, but he wasn't about to let a woman he had only just met question his abilities. He accelerated through the storms of fire from thousands of enemy pods around them and swerved around to avoid their cannons. The acceleration kept getting more and more intense until he could tell he was already upwards of 20 Gs; Most humans would have blacked out from the force, but not a commander type Zentran and certainly not Broli Kidronik. He could see the core up ahead, coming closer and closer as he charged toward it until finally the computer registered the lock-on. Broli's heart was pumping electricity, and he could feel the adrenaline pulsing in his brain. "Strike leader, bombs away!" He hit the switch and fired two of his reflex missiles into the side of the central core's engineering block. He didn't bother to pull away; if the missiles didn't hit their target he would have to fly in there himself and destroy it.

He glanced over to his left as another Lighting fighter shot past his cockpit at incredible speed towards the target. He recognized it as Imura's fighter; also running with it's G-limits turned off. Both of Broli's missiles exploded in the side of the core with the brilliance of a thousands suns and sent mushroom clouds rising above ground zero for a dozen kilometers, and Imura's Lighting flew right into the fading haze of the nukes and disappeared into the core, followed shortly by a dozen other fighters all armed with anti-ship warheads. "Damn that woman! Who does she think she...?" He caught a flash of light somewhere above him and glanced up to see a luminous beam of light streaming through the massive chamber of the base ship. He traced the beam to it's source and saw SDF-102 and two other ships diving towards the bottom of the ship at full speed. Behind them, almost as big as a Zentradi destroyer, was an imposing humanoid figure that looked vaguely Zentradi. "That's Lacul! Fighter squadrons, lay down cover fire for the Phoenix!"

A dozen lighting fighters broke from the formation and rose into the closed sky of the base ship towards Lacul. The giant protodeviln could barely even see the fighters from this range, but he could just make out the flares from the barrage of reflex missiles rising into the sky to greet him. He generated an energy barrier and backed away from the Phoenix as the missiles exploded in front of him, partly riding the shockwaves back upwards to gain some distance from the micronian attack force. Broli himself pointed the nose strait up and locked his radar onto that giant of giants. "Just one good shot..." several other fighters joined up on his wing and all confirmed a missile lock. "Strike leader, hold fire until you get closer! He can barely see us as it is, put your missiles strait into his head!"

"Roger! How close you wanna be sir?" one of the wingmen said.

"Close to about 300 meters! That's the money shot!" Broli could hear the doubtful groans of the other pilots, but he could also hear Lacul's angry growling from almost 10 kilometers way now. It was the chance of a lifetime, a target much more valuable than the fold systems. "Full afterburner! Let's nail the bastard!"

On the Phoenix, Mike could see some of the fighters moving up to attack, and made up his mind to judge their angles. "Sanders, missiles ready! Fire on my command!"

"Missiles ready captain!"

Mike waited for an open shot. Lacul would either block the missiles with a defense barrier or swat them with an energy beam before they got close. They needed a distraction. "Captain Broli, get around behind him and get him to turn his head! He can't shoot strait at him like this!" Lacul fired another beam at the Phoenix and smashed into one of the rocket motor clusters in the torso. Amelia turned the ship on its side to avoid taking the brunt of the damage, and now struggled to regain control of the ship to line up a missile shot.

Broli looked at Lacul and shook his head. "It's gonna be a real trick just getting close to him! How am I supposed to..."

His panel chirped and Imura's voice exploded on the radio. "Elensh to all fighters, target sighted! Enemy pods have me pinned down, I need cover fire to get out of here!"

Broli was about to turn back to support her, but then it occurred to him that the Phoenix and the other fighters still needed a distraction. "Destroyer group, put a full missile barrage into the base of the core! Set for airbursts at 500 meters distance and knock down those pods!"

The destroyers responded through action, opening the ports on their missile tubes and firing 18 missiles at once. 32 missiles from the two ships dispersed around the core where Imura was batting through enemy defenses and exploded in the air around it, tossing enemy pods around left and right and blasting any powered suits or ground troops into dust. Lacul seemed to notice just what it was they were shooting at, and cursing under his breath he dove past the Phoenix and the fighters towards the core. Broli found this interesting, as it seemed to put them in the perfect position to take him out. "Strike leader to all fighters, fall back to the Phoenix and get ready to fold! All ships, get ready to fire another bombardment!" Broli looked back just as Lacul landed on the side of the core and buried his fist into the metal. For just a few seconds he heard a few of the fighters in the core shouting and yelling in surprise, some of them crushed by the enormous hands of the giant Zentran, others simply struggling to stay clear of his massive fingers.

And then, over the confusion of voices on the radio, Broli heard Imura shout out "Bombs away!" Three seconds later, an entire section of the core in front of Lacul glowed bright white and then exploded, transforming matter into energy with the force of small solar flare. Ceasing the moment, the Phoenix and the destroyer groups fired the last of their missiles and powered up their fold systems for the escape, and every fighter in the strike group emptied their ordinance at the giant before turning around to return to the ship. Almost a hundred reflex missiles exploded against Lacul's body, adding to the already intense maelstrom of nuclear energies and powerful shockwaves that washed around the base ship for hundreds of kilometers.

Broli pulled back to the Phoenix and set his fighter down in soldier mode, and looked over suddenly to see Imura's badly damaged fighter standing next to him in gerwalk mode. "I hit the main power conduit to the propulsion systems! This ship isn't going anywhere!" 

"Good work Commander. What about Lacul?"

"He was right there in front of the blast! Nothing could have survived that, especially after all the firepower you just hit him with!"

Broli looked back towards the section of the core they had just blasted. "I'm not sure. That's not a true Ehvil Zentran, but he might..." Broli could just make out some movement within the vapor cloud of their nukes... and then one last energy beam pierced the haze and smashed the bow of one of the destroyers. "Holy shit! Mike, get us out of here now!" The damaged ship began falling to the bottom of the base ship in flames, and Lacul emerged from the rising mushroom clouds and charged forward like a mad man to finish off the Phoenix. And then there was a flash of light from all around them and the scenery around them changed. They were back out in open space, close to the rear echelon of the Gallaron fleet. Lacul's command base was now almost a million kilometers from there, but almost the instant they defolded the Supervision Fleet began to charge their forces, driving forward with everything they had in a well organized rage against the Gallaron fleet.

Broli looked back at the smoking body of Imura's fighter, blackened and disfigured by the heat and intense radiation of its own missiles. "How you holding up commander?"

Imura tried to move her fighter, but the legs weren't working anymore. She opted instead to open the cockpit and climb out to the deck; she would have to get a new one to continue this battle. "I don't believe this, Captain! At that range, that blast would have vaporized a small fleet! Dammit, why won't he die?!"

Broli nodded and reached out his hand to pick up the pilot. "We only put about 15,000 megatons into him. Maybe if we picked him up and dropped him on some planet from high orbit?"

Imura groaned as Broli started to walk along the hull towards the fighter bays. "Normal weapons barely slow him down! How the hell are we supposed to kill that thing?!"

Broli thought back to the Space War, and the Minmei broadcast at the final battle, and even later, in the operation to capture the factory satellite. Minmei's song was anything but what the micronians would consider a weapon, on the other hand the effect had been more devastating than any reflex weapons. It had robbed the Zentradi of their will to fight, and therefore it had robbed them of any hope of victory... and then Broli had an idea. "Imura, you ever sing in the shower?"

Imura found it an odd question, but under the circumstances there was no point being difficult. "Not till recently. I've got that umbrella song stuck in my head, and it won't go away. And General Shikari has a thing for Aerosmith."

Broli chuckled. "For some reason, that does not surprise me."

"Why do you ask anyway?" Imura said.

"I've got an idea. As soon as we set down, grab two wingmen and head over to Captain Mike's quarters. Get every CD, his laptop, his MP3s and CDVs... basically anything you've recently had to get used to."

"I don't understand..."

"It's simple, Commander." Broli said. The airlock was just ahead, and there were already dozens of fighters moving into it to be reloaded and repaired. "Guns and missiles don't work, so we'll just turn up the volume a bit."

--29:40--

Richard looked at his watch again, then around at the edge of the city around them. He was sure he was in the right place, but Minmei was nowhere in sight. For a moment he thought it might be some kind of trick, maybe a prank or something to screw with his head or else just a ploy to get him out of the apartment so she could move her stuff out... or maybe his stuff... before he could interfere. And then he saw the headlights of a car approaching down the street. The car came around the corner and stopped in front of the building almost 20 meters away from him, and Minmei stepped out nervously, doing her best to keep from trembling. "Stay right there. Don't come too close to me." Richard took a step forward, but Minmei reached into the passenger seat of the car and grabbed a pistol, obviously on lone from Lieutenant Chan. "I mean it! Stay there!"

He could see from the look on her face that without her friends around her, she was absolutely petrified of him. The gun seemed to be the only thing that allowed her to speak her mind at this point without cringing in terror. "Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not alright! What kind of stupid question is that?!" she said.

Richard's heart sank as he looked at her more closely. The bruises had begun to fade away, but her arm was in a sling from where he had broken her shoulder. Her hands had healed quickly with the new technology, and the hospital had even managed to give her new fingerprints. He could see many places on her shoulders and back where stitches had been applied after some major operation. Then again, he still had quite a few bruises himself from Hikaru and Kai Chan's payback, and he could almost relate to how she felt. "Minmei... I never meant to hurt you, I... I just..."

"...Got drunk." She finished. "And then you beat me and tried to kill me. And then you decided it would be a good idea to cut me open and rip the baby out of my body..." Minmei collected herself before her emotions took control. She took a deep breath and started again. "I don't understand you. You're like two different people, so sweet and charming one minute and the next you become an animal!"

Richard took another small step forward. "I will always love you, Minmei." He said slowly. "Even if the universe falls, if the Supervision Army destroys this planet and turns us all into slaves, I will always be yours."

Minmei saw him creeping forward and pulled the hammer back on the gun. "Don't come any closer to me! I don't want to use this but..."

"Shoot me." Richard said, taking another step forward. "And think about it before you do. I know you still love me, I know you're not going to turn your back on that after all we've been through."

Minmei couldn't breathe. Richard kept stepping closer, and Minmei kept trying to pull the trigger. Her finger wouldn't respond, and Richard would not stop. "I... But I..."

"Look at me." He said stepping closer. "Put the gun down."

Minmei stared at him for a moment as he came closer, and in a mix of unidentified emotions she started to cry. "Don't hurt me anymore Richard..."

"Never again." He said, coming closer. "You'll never have to gamble with your husband again. From now on I'm going to treat you how you deserve to be treated. I don't care if you're a superstar or Miss Macross or anything like that, I just want to make you happy, to see that beautiful smile of yours every morning. I want to be with you always."

Minmei had heard it all before. She knew he wouldn't change, she knew that in two days time he would be right back to the bottom of the bottle. Nothing was what it seemed with him, nothing was special or unique. Anything that seemed to hold any meaning to him was just an act, some smooth talking to keep her happy and get her to cooperate with him and do what he wanted. She knew it was a mistake, and was consciously aware of the empty falsehoods behind all his romantic rhetoric, and she started to understand how moths felt near open flames. She dropped the gun on the ground at her feet, and fell into Richard's arms, tears flowing from her eyes in rivers. "I love you Richard."

"I love you Minmei. I'll never hurt you again, I promise."

"I believe you." In the back of her mind, Minmei made a mental note to stock up on pepper-spray and double her medical insurance. "I have faith in you."

Richard hugged her tightly. "C'mon, I'll take you home..."

"No." The word came out as an impulse, but an extremely welcome one at that. She decided to run with it, hoping maybe the impulse would lead her to a way out of this trap she had just walked herself into. "No, I'm... I'm going back to Hikaru's house. I... I guess I just need some time to think." She wasn't sure where it was coming from or how she thought of it, but it was the perfect escape plan. It was all happening as it on instinct.

"But..."

"Richard, wait for me. I won't be long, but I need a few days to myself. I need to clear my head."

Richard looked at his wife for a moment and decided it was probably best to let her have her wish. If anything it would strengthen what he thought was his strained but rising relationship with her. It never occurred to him that she actually needed a few days to work up the nerve to break away from him completely. "Take all the time you need. I'll be waiting."

"Thank you Richard." Minmei kissed him for what she hoped would be the last time and climbed back into the car. She had never been so conflicted in her life; she started to wish there was some way to un-fall in love with someone, some way to put someone out of her heart with the touch of a button or maybe if there was some kind of skin patch to help remove her addiction to this man called Richard. As she drove the car away from him, her mind was racing as it milled over the hardest question she had ever considered, and again and again she weighed her options on the ride home. "Let's see, should I be with Richard and suffer from his callousness until he finally mutilates me?" She said to herself. "Or, should I walk away from the man I love and be alone for the rest of my life? God dammit, why isn't this easy?!" It was a battle between heart and mind, and once again she felt like a moth over a bond fire trying to make up its mind just how much lower it was safe to go.

Kai made sure everything was said and done before he switched off the audio pickup and tucked it back into the duffle bag. He had never been able to understand the strange and mysterious nature of a woman's heart, but he was able to tell how much Minmei loved this man, and just how much she was willing to risk in order to be by his side again. Even if everything she knew about life told her no, in the end her heart would always say yes. In which case, Kai decided, if he couldn't convince Minmei to stay away from this dangerous man, he would just have to remove the danger altogether. And if THAT didn't work... well he could always recommend a certain Mr. Powel to the colony draft board...

--30:40--

Shikari's battleship and a group of Zentradi destroyers were taking fire from all directions, each of them barely more than 50% combat effectiveness. On the battleship Karatsul, Shikari and her crew had all gotten into meltran spacesuits, with just over half the crew fighting the fires and the blown bulkheads all along the hull. The bridge itself was an inferno, fires burning on the lower deck and the holographic monitors in front of the command bridge flickering on and off. The sections of the ship just forward of the bridge had been gutted completely; the main cannon of a Supervision Army gunship had smashed through the forward pinpoint barriers and impaled the ship at the bow. The forward lasers were all out of action, leaving the battleship Karatsul with only 40 operational particle cannons and some defensive weapons. Even so, Shikari's ship had done its fair share of damage considering its condition. "Missile room, another barrage! Two enemy battleships closing from the front!"

"Missiles away General!" Shouted the woman at the fire control station. A dozen reflex missiles launched from the bow of the Karatsul towards the enemy fleet and exploded against several enemy ships. One battleship and five destroyers were struck down, and now the enemy ships fired back with their own missile barrage. 2 destroyers next to the Karatsul were caught with their defense systems inoperable and were smashed by the warheads, but the others survived and pushed forward to press their attack again.

Shikari didn't like the way this battle was already going. The Supervisionists were wiping the floor with the Shiar-zentran units on the opposite front, and soon they would be able to focus entirely on the Gallaron forces. Then again, she was thankful that Broli's wing had managed to knock out the fold systems of the base ship. Now, at least, Lacul would not be able to leave Soccoro-Delcaan for a few days or weeks. With any luck, the strike wing's attack had gotten him just pissed enough to forget Earth altogether, but then Shikari had never believed in her own luck.

Several medium missiles from enemy warships exploded in the hull of the Karatsul, and the main mecha hangar was now engulfed in flames. Now, for the first time in her life, Shikari began to contemplate abandoning her ship during battle. "Delta Three, this is Delta Two! We're taking heavy fire, request assistance!"

Karga's voice come over the radio with equal urgency. "Negative Delta Two! We're heavily engaged and we can't spare any fighters to support you!"

Shikari cursed under her breath. "Dammit! The enemy puts all their firepower into the battleships..." Shikari's monitors showed two VF-4 Lightings flying up along the ship's starboard side, launching missiles at enemy pods as they moved to support. She recognized both of the fighters for who they were, and it gave her great pleasure to know who had finally caught up with them. "Kaalcha, the Karatsul won't take much more of this! We need support now!"

"The Phoenix's group is on it's way! Just hang on until we can get into a defensive position!" hundreds more Lighting fighters moved to the front of the bow to support the great Zentradi battleship. Half of them were armed with reflex missiles and moved to attack the enemy ships in the distance while the other half joined the Queadlunn-Rau squadrons in defense of the flagship. Shikari looked off to her left at a bright flash of light; SDF-2s main cannon was firing again, this time blasting several of the ships attacking the Karatsul from a distance. Megaroad itself was being engaged by a number of vessels, but from what she could tell their support unit was in far better shape.

Dozens more Supervision ships moved up to replace the ones that had just been destroyed, and even as they closed they started firing on her with beams and missiles. And then Imura's face appeared on the monitors. "General, put me on a relay through the ship's comm system and broadcast this signal on all enemy frequencies!"

"Commander Elensh, what's this all about?!"

"Just do it General!" Shikari ground her teeth in anxiety and nodded to the ops officer on the bulkhead behind her. The officer set of the relay, and Imura landed her fighter on the top of the ship and began the broadcast. 

And then Shikari heard music. It was a song she'd never heard before, but a voice she knew all too well. In prevailing months since she had come to join the GSDF, Shikari had become very familiar with this voice, though this particular song she had never heard before; Aerosmith singing "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing."

"We're broadcasting Imura... I don't think I've heard this one before..." A barrage of heavy laser fire smashed into the ship's hull, stripping most of the armor on the starboard side. Shikari could see from the damage report screen on the far left from the command bubble that the ship was quickly loosing power and the barrier control room had been destroyed, but with all the radiation floating around out there she knew better than to fall back from the battle line. "Delta Two calling Delta One, we can't keep this signal up for long! Set up a relay from your own comm system and prepare to take over the broadcast!"

Misa nodded across a thousand kilometers of space. "Copy that Shikari. Be sure to get out of there safely, we need you on the front lines."

Shikari listened to the song for a few moments and watched the effect it had on the enemy mecha. Most of them suddenly seemed intent on keeping their distance from Karatsul and harassing the fighters and powered armors farther out, which gave Shikari the general idea as to how to proceed. She checked their position in space and opened a com frequency. "Attention all hands, get into powered armors and spare pods immediately! The Karatsul is no longer combat effective, Prepare to abandon ship!" Even as she spoke, she began moving out of the command bubble to the airlock hatch behind the bridge where she had stashed her powered armor after the raid on Lacul's ship. The arm had been repaired, and it was fueled and ready to fly. The airlock compartment there had been equipped with a holographic monitor system much like the command bubble; she could run operations from here until it was time to evacuate the battleship, but she had made up her mind that she would not leave until the vessel was exploding all around her. "Fire control, arm all reflex missiles and fire as many of them as you can before you loose power! Keep firing as fast as you can reload!"

"Yes ma'am!" One of the operators said, firing off another barrage of missiles. Shikari could see the explosions of her missiles against the enemy warships, but she could also see several enemy missiles answering her own attack.

"Kaalcha, missiles incoming from 104 minus 3 degrees. Our barrier is offline, we need you to intercept them!"

"Intercept? Uhhh... standby Shikari..." Broil fired a spread of medium missiles into a trio of Glaug pods and then reversed course back to the ship. "Imura, I need your guns!"

"Roger Captain!" She tossed both of her GU-11s into space, and Broli grabbed them at full speed as he passed over her in gerwalk mode. The first of the missiles was just coming into range, and the Zentradi pilot flew strait for them and fired a burst from both gunpods as soon as he was close enough. Several missiles exploded in front of him with their warheads scattering harmlessly into space, and now Broli's fighter danced in front of the battleship picking off missiles as they passed him. A few other Lighting fighters joined him in the defense of the ship, avoiding fire from Supervision mecha even as they struggled to pick off enemy missiles. Broli looked back again to see laser and particle beams raining down on the battleship from the blackness of space, and before his eyes the ship seemed to be flying apart. "General, you've had it! The ship won't last under that barrage, get out of there now!"

The Karatsul fired another barrage of missiles and its remaining particle cannons even as enemy fire slowly tore it apart. "Negative Kaalcha! The Karatsul isn't finished yet, she's still got some fight left in her!"

A heavy laser beam smashed into the engine hull, and a large explosion from one of the impulse drives knocked the massive ship into a spin. Secondary explosions began to punch holes in the hull from bow to stern; the battleship was disintegrating. "Shikari, get the hell out of there!" There was no response on the radio, the ship had suffered a total power loss with its drive system inoperable. "Shikari!" Broli's motion sensors buzzed, and a storm of reflex missiles appeared behind him. He turned and fired, hoping to buy time for the General and her crew to bail out, but a few of them slipped past him before he could pick them off. 

One of the missiles hit the Karatsul directly amidships, blowing the ship in half with a blinding flash of light. He found the whole situation somewhat irritating; Broli had better things to do then go rescue the little think-tank meltran from the hull of her demolished battleship. "Dammit Shikari! I told you to get out of there..." Broli reversed course and flew directly into the expanding debris cloud of the dead battleship, ultimately arriving at the bridge compartment of the forward hull. The enemy fire ignored the battleship now, instead focusing on the other ships that were still a threat to them. 

Broli set down on the hull of the stricken battleship and scanned around for a moment until an explosion punched a massive hole in the ship a few dozen meters in front of him. Several powered armors and Lighting fighters, along with a few Zentran battlepods stormed out of the opening, others blasting their own escape routes to evacuate the ruined flagship. Broli felt the shock of a small explosion behind him, and turned around to see a single powered armor trying to pull itself out of the opening like a hermit crab. "Kaalcha, my legs are stuck!"

"Hold still, I got you!" Broli turned back and grabbed onto the suit's left arm. Imura's fighter grabbed the right arm and the two of them pulled the powered armor up out of the gap in the hull. Broli was amused that this powered armor was about half the size of a standard unit; standing erect it wasn't that much bigger than his Lighting. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine..." All three of them seemed to notice suddenly that the music was still flowing over the radio. Aerosmith played on, the song went on from the relay on Imura's computer to SDF-2. The enemy fleet picked up the broadcast and some of their commanders stopped to wonder at the strange sounds from the Gallaron fleet. Some of them even stopped paying attention to the battle around them and failed to activate their defense shields in time to block Gallaron's reflex missiles. The enemy's front lines began to collapse, Gallaron ships started to move forward, each of them carrying the broadcast from the SDF-2 and Imura's computer. Shikari waited with Broli and Imura and watched the entire fleet charge the enemy forces when something occurred to her. "Imura, get over to SDF-2 and deliver the other songs from the Phoenix to its main computer. We'll rig a network system on the relay so every ship in the fleet can carry on the broadcast even if one of them goes down."

"Yes sir, but what about you?"

"I'll transfer the flag to the destroyer Borhas. Don't worry about me, just get over to the Megaroad."

"Yes ma'am." 

Imura started to leave, but Shikari grabbed her before she forgot to tell her. "One more thing, I'm assigning you to Commander Matheson's de'trel. Please try and keep her out of trouble."

Imura glanced at Broli and then switched into fighter mode and flew off to join SDF-2. "Thanks Shikari." Broli said. "I appreciate you looking after Corina..."

"No problem." Shikari pushed off the hull and started to fly towards on of the destroyers in her fleet. "Kaalcha, I just want to point out to you that I have developed a great deal of respect for you AND Commander Matheson. For her sake, and for mine, please be careful out there."

Broli switched into fighter mode and scanned the area ahead of him to make sure his flight path back to the Phoenix was clear. "Same to you, Shikari. I was nice enough to let you off the hook in this life, but I should warn you that if you get killed out here you WILL have to be my slave in Jurruuqi." Shikari chuckled, and both soldiers headed off towards their ships. There was still work to be done before the battle could end.


	33. Chapter 32: Last Man Standing

****

Chapter 32: Last Man Standing

--August 5, 2016--

--02:30--

The days had grown darker, and the stars were no longer shining. The battered remnants of Gallaron's space forces were now in full retreat, exhausted and overwhelmed by the superior numbers of the Supervision Army. Half of the ships deployed in the first stages of the battle five days ago had been disabled or destroyed, some ships had lost their entire fighter attachment little by little until they were defenseless against enemy mecha. The Shiar-zentran fleet had been all but annihilated in the first two days of the fighting, and now they too were falling back to a defensive position within Gallaron space. No matter how many ships they destroyed there were still hundreds more right behind them; the Supervision Army swarmed their lines like locusts through a wheat field. The song broadcast from the Gallaron fleet might well have been the only reason there was anyone left to retreat at all. The officers and soldiers of the Supervision fleet performed more sluggishly than ever, with reaction times slowed to a crawl and weapons accuracy cut in half. Though still feverishly aggressive, their movements had become sloppy and uncoordinated, although with their superior numbers they still had an overwhelming advantage anyway.

The prospect of victory was fading quickly. The Gallaron fleet was limping away from their aggressors, firing over their shoulders with one hand and dragging their wounded with the other. In his "smaller" form to just 200 meters in height, Lacul had been able to conserve his limited supply of energy and calmly evaluate the situation. He no longer cared about Earth, nor was he in a position to move against it anyway with his main power systems offline. But he was content to finish off the feeble remnants of the protoculture that had come to challenge his will for what he hoped would be the last time. He gave the order to Kraken, who passed the order on to the field commanders to move up to surround the retreating Gallaron fleet before they could escape from the system. In light of the effect of the enemy's musical broadcasts on his commanders, Lacul made one more decision; it was time to bring some of his higher field commanders out of stasis. He'd been saving them for a special occasion, but now with his fortress dead in the water, Lacul didn't see much other choice.

In the Gallaron fleet, General Karga's battleship had taken the lead and was covering the retreat of the rest of the ships to a defensive position where they would be able to fold to safety. Shikari's destroyer was coordinating the repair efforts of some of the damaged ships fold systems and one of her officers was acting as a disk jockey to run the song broadcast. But General Karga's battleship Golgrono was getting its hands dirty, shouldering the stress of battle for its support fleet almost single handedly. A barrage of fire from enemy gunboats rippled through his formation, destroying a dozen of his support ships with just one blast, but Karga fired back with his own gunboats. 40 enemy ships took direct hits and were destroyed, and dozens more suffered damage and fell back. Almost immediately, a hundred more enemy ships surged up from the rear echelons to replace the ones that had been lost and immediately filled the sky with beams and missiles. Karga ground his teeth in anxiety as a half dozen vessels next to his flagship were blasted into splinters. "Dammit, there's too many of them! There aren't enough guns in the entire fleet to stop them all!"

Not far from the Golgrono, SDF-102 fired its main cannon for the umpteenth time, this time at an enemy battleship. The beam hit the ship's defense field and punched right through it, splitting the ship in half down the middle before it exploded. Two more battleships moved up alongside its wreckage and fired a barrage of reflex missiles towards the ship. Viper Squadron moved up with gunpods and picked most of them off, but two missiles got through and exploded against Phoenix's barrier. The barrier control shorted out from the stress, and as the blast from the missiles faded the force field flickered and died. Broli reversed direction and flew strait back to the ship, setting down on the hull next to the command tower and looking through the observation bubble at the bridge. "Mike, what's the ship's status?"

"The reflex barrier's fried! Outer hull's been compromised in too many places, I don't think it'll take another bombardment!"

Broli could see he was telling the truth. Most of the hull was pitted and scarred, and there was a gaping hole in the hull not ten meters from the command tower from an enemy missile. "We just need to hang on until the fleet's ready to fold! Alot of ship's are damaged and we can't leave them behind!"

Mike looked at the radar screen on the side of the bridge. Even as he watched, dozens of friendly vessels disappeared from view. "Captain, if we don't do something soon, there'll no one left to retreat...!"

Amelia tapped her headset. "Captain, General Karga's requesting reinforcements! Enemy ships are charging his position!"

Broli and move both came to the same conclusion at the same time. They would have loved to lend a hand, but what was left of the 1st fleet was in sore need of reinforcements themselves. "We can't spare any..." Mike said, counting on his fingers how many ships in his formation were fully operational. "We'll just have to let Misa handle it."

Amelia nodded in agreement, but focused one of her monitors on the Golgrono off in the distance. Enemy ships and fighters were tearing it apart, along with just about every other vessel in sight. A storm of beams from what seemed like millions of ships sliced up a group of destroyers in front of it and a pair of reflex missiles went off alongside the hull. Most of the energy was deflected by its reflex barrier, but then Karga's force field began flickering just like the Phoenix's barrier until it too was out of action. The great battleship was ablaze from bow to stern, every second brought it closer to death.

A group of Galug battlepods stormed through the defending fighters and approached the ship. Broli moved out in front of the bridge in soldier mode and fired a spread of medium missiles into the midst of them. Only one of them even bothered to dodge, and this one he dropped with a blast of his laser cannons without a second thought. "I shudder to think what this would be like without that music on the comm lines..." As if in response to his comment, Broli heard the signal change tracks, this time to an old recording of Madonna singing Lucky Star. "I like this song. Good pick Shikari..." Broli's radar registered movement from the enemy fleet. They were advancing towards his fleet again, though more than half of them didn't seem to be firing at any particular target. "Mike, enemy ships are on move again!"

Mike walked up behind Amelia and looked at the main screen in front of the bridge. "Sanders, main cannon fire when ready!"

"Firing sir!" The ensign said, pushing the leaver again. The main cannon sparkled and then fired, striking down an enemy heavy cruiser directly up ahead. Three cruisers and two battleships flew right through the explosion of their comrade and fired on the Phoenix with everything they had.

The pinpoint barrier caught most of it, but several of the energy beams penetrated the hull. The fighter bays in the left grappler were filled with fire, and two of the forward particle turrets were destroyed with one hit each. Mike gripped the railing to steady himself as the deck tossed beneath his feet, and then looked at the main screen again. Every time they destroyed one of them, the enemy ships seemed to just multiply. Mike only had enough reflex missiles for one more salvo, but he decided now was as good a time as any. "Sanders, load all remaining missile tubes and prepare to fire!"

Amelia glanced back up at the monitor to see a burst of beam cannon fire ripple across General Karga's flagship. The ship gave one last protest from its main guns, and then a blinding flash from a nuclear explosion snapped the ship in two. The fireball expanded to consume both halves of the battleship, leaving nothing behind but ionized gas. "Sir, we just lost the Golgrono!"

Broli heard her voice in his headset and looked off in space where a new star had just been born. General Karga was dead, his fleet was now in chaos and the enemy was about to mow right through them. "Well that settles it. We're gonna have to..." Broli glanced over at the observation bubble of the command tower just as an enemy laser cannon blasted it to bits. The explosion actually tossed his fighter off the hull and sent it tumbling into space, and Broli had to react quickly to steady himself before he got too far from the ship. "Mike, Amelia!" He shouted, knowing it was hopeless but praying for a miracle. He switched into gerwalk mode and flew through the scattering debris from the bridge. "Amelia, answer me god dammit...!" And then his eyes focused one something floating towards him, something at first he couldn't identify. It looked like a piece of scorched hull material or shattered bulkhead, but when he got closer he could see that it was actually moving. He brought his fighter even closer to it and saw with a sudden start that it was a person; Lieutenant Ryder was floating freely in front of him in the ashes of her uniform, kicking and clawing in panic, suffocating in the vacuum of space.

--27:50--

It would be inaccurate to say that Richard was sober, but it would be a serious overstatement to imply that the man was actually drunk. The most accurate description would be, as Kai Chan's friend Aziz Adbul Alako often put it, "lightly toasted with just a dash of flavoring." He still had a clear head when he got back to his apartment, he'd only had a few drinks tonight since some braniac paparazzi had figured on getting a photo of the man who had put Minmei in the hospital and now there were dozens of them camped out by Shanty's and some of his other favorite hangouts. He came home tonight from job hunting in order to drown his sorrows in the comfort of his own home, but when he opened the door to his building he found and unpleasant surprise waiting for him. "Mr. Powel, we need to talk." Kai Chan said, stepping out of the building and grabbing him by the collar.

Richard pulled away and tried to run, but felt the cold steel of a pistol against his ribs and decided to hold still. "I-I wasn't gonna do anything! I just wanted to see her again! C'mon man, I just..."

"Shut up!" Kai pushed him into an alley behind the building and shoved him back against a brick wall. "I'm not in the mood to kick your ass right now, so we're just gonna have a nice little chat." Kai safetied the gun and tucked it under his jacket. "There's a few questions I need answered, and since you appear sober enough to answer them I might as well ask you now."

Richard relaxed a bit and leaned against the wall. Kai pulled up a crate from across the alley and sat down on it, Richard sat on the ground. "Like what questions?"

"First I wanna hear you say it. 5 years ago, you killed your wife and unborn child in cold blood and tried to cover it up. Is that true?" Richard sighed and repeated the phrase slowly. "Thank you. Now that we've got that out of the way, you're going to explain to me in as few words as possible why I should give you a chance to do it again."

Richard collected his thoughts and summarized them as best he could. "I came to this colony to start a new life, to correct my past mistakes. I didn't want this to happen, I didn't want her to get hurt. I wanted to start a family with the woman I loved and live in peace for a change..."

"Regrets and sniveling, Mr. Powel. Answer the damn question already." Kai said, more than alittle annoyed with his excuses.

For all his attempts to justify it, there was really only one answer he knew he could give. "You're not going to."

"Bingo." Kai said. "One way or the other, you are never going to hurt that woman again. Now, if I had my way you'd be drawn and quartered by now, but Minmei cares about you alot more than she probably should. I don't know what you did to make her this way, but she would risk her life just to be with you again. Since there isn't much I can do to change HER mind, I'm going to try to change yours."

Richard stared at him blankly. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You're a trap, Richard, you know that right?" 

"What do you mean?"

"The booze is the trigger, all your little charms are the bait. And we've both seen what happens to women who take the bait. Some of them don't even survive."

"I told you before it wasn't my fault..." Richard said automatically.

"Don't give me that bullshit." Kai snapped back. "Minmei's blood is on YOUR hands, Mr. Powel. Like it or not, you alone are responsible for what you did to her... to them."

Richard nodded slowly. "I guess that's true... you're right that's true. But what can I do about it?"

Kai stared him down. "Strait answer, Richard. You love your wife?"

"Yes."

"You want to see your children grow up?"

Richard hesitated, and then nodded. "Yes I do."

"Then this is what you're gonna do. I'm gonna give you 30 days to prove to us that you can be trusted with her. You're gonna get a new job, close your tabs at the bars, dump all that shit in your apartment, and remain sober for that entire period, and then we will TALK about letting you see her again. If you are not close to getting your ass squared away in within 30 days, you will never see your wife again except on TV. Is that clear Mr. Powel?"

"Wait just a damn minute!" Richard stood up and walked up to him and Kai stood up to face him down. "Who the hell do you think you are?! You can't run my life like a...!"

"Listen to me asshole!" Kai grabbed his collar and pushed him against the wall. "You had your chance to do it yourself and you blew it! If you're going to be a part of HER life, you're gonna be part of ours too! So you'd better start getting used to it!" Kai released his grip on his shirt and took a step back. "Keep in mind I've got people watching you 24/7, and the same goes for Minmei. If you come within 50 meters of her... for ANY REASON... within the next 30 days..." Kai reached under his jacket and pulled out a very small recording device. "...this tape will find it's way to the local newspapers along with your name and address. And trust me, Minmei's fans can think of worse things to do to you than I EVER could."

Richard clenched his fists automatically. "This is blackmail..."

"Yes it is." Kai tucked the recorder back into his pocket and walked away from him. "Just remember, you brought this on yourself. See you in 30 days."

--August 6, 2016--

--09:20--

The Gallaron fleet had retreated across two star systems with the Supervision Army in hot pursuit. What was left of Karga's fleet had fallen back to the asteroid fields of Berren-Delcaan join Misa's Home fleet, and together the force of barely 250 ships would have to hold the line against almost three times that number. The last of the wounded vessels were folding out of the system now, even the Phoenix was on retreat with Broli running the helm from the ship's engine room. They only needed to hold out for a few more minutes, and then they would fall back yet again to the relative safety of the Bolo system where the remains of the Shiar-zentran had set up a phalanx of Zentradi gunboats and hyperspace minefields. The most appreciated effect of the song broadcast from Shikari's fleet was on their navigators. The enemy pursuit units were not paying attention to their jobs, apparently mesmerized by the music on their comm lines and the assorted video images that went with them. A few minutes after transmitting a screenshot of Minmei in the infamous shower scene of the movie "Perigee", hundreds of enemy ships misfolded out of position and ended up scattered across a dozen light years from where they were supposed to be. This was very much to the Gallaron's credit, since the Supervisionists would not be able to quickly bring up reinforcements to follow their retreat across the star systems. All Misa had to do now was buy them some time to dig their trenches and prepare for their counter thrust in the Bolo system.

The main cannon of SDF-2 powered up another blast and selected an enemy command ship close to the rear of the enemy formation, just at the edge of the ships firing range. When it fired, it took a full three seconds for the energy from the blast to cross the half a million kilometers between them before smashing into the enemy command ship and scattered it into the solar winds. The enemy fleet didn't seem to notice, in fact it only seemed to make them more aggressive. The counter attack from the ships around SDF-2 was predictable, and formidable. Hundreds of beams pelted Megaroad and its support ships from all sides, punching gaping holes in the hull plating and drawing blood in the form of tiny flares from within. SDF-2's forward pinpoint barriers had been destroyed the day before, and now the ship was effectively one big target. 

For Misa, it was almost exactly like being on the Macross seven years ago, only the enemy was not holding back and everywhere she looked in every direction there were beams criss-crossing and explosions from fighters and a few warships. Three Glaugs appeared in front of the bridge and took aim, and then a maelstrom of pulse lasers destroyed all three of them one after another. Misa looked past the expanding wreckage of the three pods where a VF-4 Lighting-III was moving through space around the hull, firing missiles in clusters to keep enemy pods away from the bridge. Misa recognized the fighter as one of Shikari's and by the way the pilot was fighting it was obvious who the pilot was. "Commander Elensh, what are you doing here? You should be on your ship with General Shikari..."

"The General has assigned me to look after you. I'm only following orders, Captain Misa."

Misa smiled. "I appreciate that, just be careful out there." Imura closed the channel, and Misa saw on the tactical boards that the enemy fleet was closing in around them. Several beam cannons hit the pinpoint barriers in the forward hull, and she could hear explosions from enemy missiles and beams hitting the hull behind them, past the pinpoint barriers themselves. "All ships advance! Prepare to fire reflex missiles on my command! Do whatever it takes to get those shields down!"

The Zentradi destroyers lurched forward, followed shortly by some of the protoculture ships right behind them. They had somehow fallen into a new procedure, Zentradi ships would screen for the missile destroyers until they were close enough, and then the enemy ships would feel their wrath as they blasted them with a swarm of nukes. SDF-2 moved forward with the rest of them with Corina's finger on the barrier control. The system couldn't be activated fast enough to deflect enemy beams like a pinpoint barrier, but it could get them close enough to finish this fight. "They're firing again!"

"Barriers!" Corina hit the button, and the barrier activated and instant before their weapons discharged. All of their beams hit the SDF-2's energy shield and immediately reacted with it, exploding around the ship and almost blinding the crew. "Engines ahead full! We have to get closer!"

Corina crossed herself and sent the command to the navigation bridge. Even as she did, she could see flashes from the enemy ships forward hulls and she could make out the outlines of vapor trails dissipating in space. "Missiles incoming! Reflex barrier up to power!"

"Damage control, standby! All ships go to reflex defenses!" Misa watched the missiles close in around them and wiped the sweat from her forehead. "All decks, brace for impact..." Missile after missile exploded in front of the Megaroad and flared against the energy field, and the entire bridge crew were sent tumbling across the deck. The other ships took hits as well, but at this point it was plainly obvious that the primary target of the enemy ships was the SDF-2. Misa collected her senses and sat back down in her chair. "Barriers out! Return fire!" Corina hit the button again, and at that same instant the ship fired all 12 reflex missiles. The Zentradi and protoculture ships followed suit, and the cloud of reflex missiles swarmed towards the enemy. Again, the crew of the ship was blinded by explosions as the missiles impacted against the energy shields of the enemy ships, but this time the barriers of the Supervision Army did not last. All but one of the destroyers started to break up from the tremendous energy of the weapons, and one of the battleships was knocked into a spin by the blast as it disintegrated. This left only that battleship and a handful of destroyers moving up from the rear, but Misa wanted that battleship more than anything. "All gun turrets standby! Missile turrets prepare to fire anti-warship rounds!"

The ship was directly ahead and closing in very quickly. It's engines were offline and it was spinning out of control, but it was still firing at them with everything it had. Misa waited until they got even closer, close enough even to see the markings on its hull with her own eyes and then she stood up from her chair and stood in the center of the room. "Get him Sara!"

"You got it!" Sara opened fire, and the missiles and particle cannons on the hull fired at once, along with the guns and missiles on the destroyer. The battleship fired back with its own beams and missiles an instant before the combined firepower of Misa's warships blasted it to bits, and the surviving destroyer shared its fate a second later as several squadrons of VF-4's savaged it with lasers and missiles. 

"Enemy missiles incoming!" Corina shouted.

Misa could just hear the explosions as the medium missiles from the enemy ship pelted the outer hull. They weren't very powerful on their own, but there seemed to be millions of them... "Close outer compartments! Fire crews get to the..." Misa caught a flash of light out of the corner of her eye. She looked over to see a cloud of missiles swarming towards the command tower, and before she could even open her mouth they slammed into the hull and exploded...

No one in the bridge remembered what happened next. The explosion rocked the entire command tower from bow to stern, filling the entire compartment with fire and shattering bulkheads with the pressure from the blast. More than a dozen missiles had exploded less than 50 meters aft of the main bridge, and everyone in the command center was lifted off their feet and thrown against any nearby object in sight. 

After a few minutes, Corina regained her senses and found herself lying face down on the deck with a flat-screened monitor resting on her back. When she looked up, there were flames everywhere, jutting out of air vents and licking the sides of the walls where computer consoles had once been. Corina took a moment to collect her thoughts, then pulled herself back up to her feet and got back to her station to check over the damage reports. "Command tower's been hit, emergency bulkheads sealed off the breach. Pinpoint barrier control offline..." Corina glanced over to Sara's station, but saw suddenly that the entire consol was no longer there, nor was a large section of the railing in front of it. For just a moment she was confused, and then she looked over the railing of the command bridge down into the command center almost 20 meters bellow. There were flames everywhere, and bodies or pieces of bodies strewn about the room, but she could see Sara down there, lying on her back on one of the computer consoles staring up at the ceiling. "Sara! Talk to me girl!" Sara didn't move, and even as Corina watched two officers ran to her side. One of them looked up and nodded, and Corina breathed a sigh of relief.

She patched in her consol to take over for Sara's station and looked over her systems board. "Fire control non-functional. Weapons systems non-functional. Orders Captain?" Misa didn't answer. "Captain?" Corina turned around to see her Captain lying face down on the deck under the flaming remnants of her chair, quite unconscious. "Misa!" Corina ran back to her and pulled the chair off her of Captain's back, and now that she was close enough she could see a pool of blood beneath her comrade's body, staining her uniform and spreading with every second. Corina ran back to the consol and found the radio wasn't working. She looked over the railing again down into the command center. "Someone get the medics up here..." Corina saw the two officers pull Sara off the computer consol to the floor, and even as she watched one of them started CPR, and the other one looked up and shook her head. Corina ran to the side of the bridge to see anyone else who might be able to help, but the only other people in the command center still standing were helping the multitude of injured crewmen, some of them putting the flames out on each other's backs with fire extinguishers... 

Before she even knew what was she was doing, Corina had run out of the bridge and down what was let of the staircase to the navigation bridge to make fold calculations for Gallaron. It was the standard procedure Misa had briefed them on before the ship left port. If the crew should become incapacitated and the ship crippled, is was the responsibility of the last man standing to get the ship back to base. Corina was the last one left on the bridge right now, but she didn't plan to keep it that way.


	34. Chapter 33: Burry the Survivors

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Chapter 33: Burry the Survivors

--August 9, 2016--

--27:15--

Misa awoke in a familiar place, a room she seemed to remember being in only a day or two before leaving Gallaron for battle. She looked around for a moment, adjusting to the sudden change of scenery, and then the bed started to move behind her. "Guys, she's awake." She heard someone say. The bed adjusted and she sat up, now finding herself sitting in a hospital bed with her friends crowded around her. "How you feeling Misa?" Hikaru said.

Misa looked around the room; they were all there. Minmei, Hikaru, Corina, only Broli was missing, which indicated to Misa that the battle was still going on. "Hey, where's Sara?"

Corina paused for a moment. "Down the hall."

"Is she okay?"

Corina shook her head. "She's been in surgery all morning. The doctor's are doing their best, but... but she's not going to make it."

Misa sighed. She never would have wished any of this on Sara, and the thought of losing everyone's favorite smart-alek weighed heavily on her heart. "I need to get back out there..."

"You can't." Minmei said. "The ship's been totaled. They're still repairing it."

"Then I'll take another ship..." Misa tried to sit up, but for some reason couldn't summon the strength in her torso. Minmei and Hikaru sat her back down against the bed.

"SDF-05 joined the defense line with most of the reserves. The only thing defending this planet right now is the Monitor, the Ajax and 22 destroyers."

"You need to rest now." Minmei said patting her shoulder. "You could be injured alot worse than you think."

Misa groaned. "Well where's Miko?"

"She's sleeping in the next room. She was really upset about you being hurt, I'm glad we were finally able to get her to sleep..."

The door opened again and the very same doctor who treated Minmei entered the room. "So are we taking turns now?" He said with a grin.

Misa looked around. "You mean this is the same room?"

"Yup." Minmei nodded. "Isn't that funny?"

"Actually, it is." Misa nodded back. "But I don't plan to stay here very long..."

"Captain," The doctor came next to her and stood next to the bed. "I have some very bed news. I think you should all sit down."

Hikaru raised a brow. "That bad?"

The doctor nodded. "I've had to tell a lot of people this recently and I think it helps if you sit down." Hikaru and the others all took chairs and the doctor placed his clipboard on the table. "Captain Misa, I'm afraid the damage was more extensive than we thought. You've suffered a severe spinal injury to 6 different vertebrae and the spinal tissue in that area has been completely severed."

Misa wasn't quite sure what he was trying to say. "Just what exactly...?" And then it occurred to her as she thought over the idea of a spinal injury. "What... are you...?"

The doctor had an idea of what she was trying to ask. "I'm sorry Captain, this type of injury can't be treated with the current technology. Of course, things can always improve, but..."

Misa was speechless, as were all of the others. Only at this moment did Misa suddenly realized she could not feel her legs, or her hips, or anything bellow her ribcage for that matter. She tried to move them, but nothing happened. It was as if she had been somehow broken in half just bellow her stomach. She started to say something, but gave up the attempt and started to cry.

"I-Isn't there anything you can do?" Minmei asked, her own eyes starting to run.

The doctor shook his head sadly. "There's just no way to regenerate that much nervous tissue artificially. The most we could promise is that you could FEEL you legs, but you will be confined to a wheelchair probably for the rest of you life."

Misa went pale, and Corina suddenly felt the urge to lie down. Hikaru, on the other hand, started chuckling. "Lighten up you guys, the protoculture healers can fix that!" Everyone stopped cold and looked at Hikaru. "I wasn't quite as bad off as you are, but I'm sure they can fix you! It'll take some time but they can do it!"

Misa wiped her eyes with her blanket and Corina and Minmei dropped into chairs and sulked. The doctor could tell nobody believed what Hikaru was saying, so he decided to back him up. "That's a great idea Colonel." He said enthusiastically. "I know their doctors have some interesting practices that might be able to help her."

Just like that, Hikaru saw hope returning to his wife's eyes. "Yeah Misa, they can help you just like they helped me! Trust me, those guys know their stuff!"

"I trust you Hikaru..." Misa said softly. "I hope you're right..."

"I know I'm right." He said grinning. 

The doctor decided this would be a good time to step out. "I guess I'll... leave you all alone for a while..."

"Just a minute doc, I wanna talk to you outside." Hikaru leaned down and kissed Misa's forehead and then followed the doctor out of the room. Once they were out of earshot of the others, he leaned close to him and lowered his voice. "Now just what is it you're not telling me?"

"I don't understand..." he said nervously.

Hikaru pointed to the third page of the medical report and pointed out several lines of notes that had been skipped over when the man was in the room. "I know doctors, I can tell when they're holding things back. I'm a big boy doc, just hit me with it!"

The doctor opened an empty room across the hall and pushed Hikaru into one of the chairs. "Colonel, I can't tell you how sorry I am about..."

"Doc!" Hikaru held up his hand to stop him. "Just spill it. If it's that bad, I won't tell Misa about it, but still I feel like I deserve to know what's going on."

The doctor closed the door to the room and locked it. "Colonel, I know neither of you were expecting this, but your wife has suffered a miscarriage."

At first, Hikaru wasn't even sure what that meant, but after a few seconds his brain made the mental connection. "She was... I didn't know. God dammit, I didn't even know!"

"Neither did she." The doctor said solemnly. "We didn't even know ourselves until we brought her into surgery. I'm very sorry Colonel, but if we'd known sooner we might have been able to..."

Hikaru nodded slowly. "I don't suppose you know what...?" 

The doctor shook his head. "It was too early to tell..."

"Right, well... these things happen I guess." Hikaru pulled out of the chair sluggishly and walked back out into the hallway, his legs just barely working the way they should.

The doctor followed him out of the room and walked alongside him as he shuffled towards the cafeteria. "Do you want to tell your wife about this?"

Hikaru shook his head slowly. "She'd be devastated. You saw how she was when Miko was born..."

Every doctor on the colony ship remembered that day, all of them had come to see it or had watched it on video just for laughs. "Yeah. I'd never seen anyone so..."

"Complete."

"Yeah, that sounds about right."

Hikaru felt his knees buckling, and he stopped in the hallway and sat down in a chair next to one of the rooms. "Do you have any children doc?"

The doctor shook his head. "My wife and daughter were on Earth when Bodolza attacked."

"How old was she?"

"My wife was 25, my daughters was about... 8 months old."

"Well you know how this feels then, right?" Hikaru took a deep breath and stood up again, continuing his trek to the cafeteria to fill his suddenly very angry stomach. He felt his body starting to feel normal again, though he had developed a splitting headache and his ears were still ringing off the hook. "I'll buy you a drink later, Doc." He said, walking ahead of him before his knees gave out again.

"Sounds good, Colonel. Think we'll both be needing one." 

--27:30--

It's funny what a person remembers after a traumatic event. Amelia remembered the growing point of light as the particle beam surged towards them from the enemy cruiser. She remembered being thrown into the air as the metal beneath her feet turned into liquid and then gas. She remembered catching a glance at Mike as the flames stripped the flesh from his bones, and then noticing a moment later that her clothes were on fire. She remembered being blown out into space and the sudden silence that filled her ears when she entered the vacuum. And more than anything she remembered dying, and the way her chest tightened when her heart stopped beating. Strangely enough the one thing she could not remember was the pain. Of course she had been AWARE of it, aware of the flames lapping against her skin and the pressure of the airburst that had knocked the wind out of her. She had been aware of the pain in her chest when both of her lungs collapsed from the vacuum and the odd feeling of the blood boiling in her veins. But at the time it happened she had only been aware of it, she had not actually felt it the way a normal person feels things, it was as if she was watching it happen to someone else.

What woke her from her sleep was a tickling in her nose, and a sudden contraction of the muscles in her face. And then she sneezed, wiped her nose and opened her eyes for the first time in more than a week. She felt a jolt through the mattress and a rumbling sound of a distant explosion, and from the vibrations she could tell something had hit the hull of whatever ship she was on. She sat up painfully and looked around, not really understanding where she was or why she was here, but as soon as she sat up she felt a pain in her abdomen that felt all too familiar. She groaned and lay back down, and then she felt someone pat her on the shoulder. "Relax Lieutenant, it's just some Glaugs messing around outside. Try not to move too much, you got the bends."

Amelia looked up to see Broli staring down at her, and suddenly it all made sense. She was in the infirmary of one of the other superdimensional cruisers; by the new and polished look of everything she figured it was probably SDF-05. Everything looked new, clean, and in much better shape than the Phoenix usually was. "I've had the bends before, Captain. I'm used to it."

"I know, I read your service record. How is it exactly that you were the only one injured on the entire ship?"

Amelia remembered that day, working alongside two full sized Zentradi on repairs to the Oberth class destroyer Long Beach. The last thing she remembered was the explosion of one of the apogee motors next to her, the sting of metal tearing through her skin, and the sudden panic when she heard the sound of air rushing out of her space suit... "Just clumsy sir." She said evasively.

"Yeah, right. Anyway, they got you on some new kind of meds, so you'll be okay in a few hours." Broli said, looking at his watch again. "You're very lucky, you know that? If you'd been standing 2 feet to the right you would have been vaporized. And you're also damn lucky I was able to get you into my cockpit when I did, two more seconds and you would have been spam."

"Yeah, that's what the other guy said...." Amelia sat up again, this time ignoring the pain in her abdomen. She felt an odd sensation all over her body like pins and needles, and since Broli had mentioned some new kind of medication she could only assume it was the nitrogen gas leaving her system at an incredible rate. It almost felt like being in a vacuum, only now she could actually breathe. "Am I the only one who survived?"

Broli nodded slowly. "Somebody up there must like you alot. The odds of surviving a hit like that... well there are no odds. It just doesn't happen."

Amelia looked at him for a moment, then touched her face. It was remarkably free of scars, though extremely dry and peeling in many places from the heat of the blast. "How's the battle going?"

"We're in a standoff. The music signals have made the Supervisionists careless. They folded strait into the mine fields when they chased us back to Bolo and we used the old Valkyrie squadrons to destroy them before they could get free."

"What mine fields sir?"

"An old Zentradi parlor trick. We use these hyperspace mines to create a false gravity-well over a very wide area, and that makes it impossible to perform a space fold without suffering serious damage. We've got the entire Bolo system on lockdown, along with four other systems nearby."

Amelia sighed in relief. This meant the enemy fleet wouldn't be able to push all the way through to Gallaron without a big hassle. "What about the fleet?"

Broli's face darkened. "We're down to about 30% of what we started with. We can still hold the defense line with what we have left, but it won't be easy." 

Amelia groaned and started to sit climb out of the bed. "Bends or no bends, I'm going back to work..."

Broli pushed her back into the bed and pulled the blanket over her again. "Don't be stupid, you can't even stand strait. You need to save your strength, you've got a big assignment ahead of you." Broli stood up and walked across the room towards the door.

"Assignment Sir?" Amelia said to his back.

Broli's stopped in the doorway and looked over his shoulder. "The Megaroad was badly damaged during the retreat. They need experienced crewmen, and Corina tells me they're looking for a new 1st officer." He stepped back into the room, reached over to the computer regulating the IV bag and programmed a dosage of sleep aides for the young officer. "Since there's no one better for the job, you're being transferred to the Megaroad's bridge."

Amelia almost jumped out of her skin. "To the Megaroad sir?!"

"Yup. It's a big opportunity, you'll do just fine." Broli patted her forehead and Amelia laid back on the hospital bed. "Sleep now, Lieutenant... er... Commander Ryder."

Amelia gave off a warm smile just as the sedatives kicked in, and in a few seconds she was fast asleep with that same smile frozen to her face. Broli walked out of the infirmary and down the hall to an elevator shaft to the command tower of SDF-05. By the time he got to the bridge, the battle outside was winding down; the Lighting fighters had dispatched the last of the Glaugs and were now landing on one of the ship's grappler modules while the Valkyries were being loaded up for yet another bombing mission. A recently micronized General Shikari was sitting in the Captain's chair, rubbing her temples exhaustively and groggy from lack of sleep. "How's your exec doing?" She said quietly.

"She's finally awake. She seems to be recovering nicely considering... well you know."

"Yeah." Shikari looked out the window towards the flashes of battle in the distance. The other Valkyrie and Lighting Squadrons were attacking enemy scout ships that had been snared by the fold mines, destroying them as quickly as possible before returning to their carrier ships for rearming and repair. After a moment, her eyes drifted back to the floating wreckage of the destroyer Borhas, demolished only two days ago when a group of enemy ships managed to sneak past the minefields to attack the fleet. Shikari planned to kill herself to avoid the shame of losing two ships in the same battle if only Broli hadn't stopped her. Twice. "Kaalcha, what can we do now?" She said looking up at him, her eyes full of desperation. "The Supervision Army has undoubtedly called for reinforcements and they could arrive at any time now..."

"Alpha Factory is working as fast as they can, and we've even made contact with other Zentradi forces in this sector. All we need to do is stall them until we can build up our forces enough to defend ourselves. We weren't anywhere near where we needed to be in order to launch this offensive, but the next time I guarantee you we'll be ready for them."

"But..."

"Shikari," Broli reached down and put his hand on her shoulder. "There are still more than one thousand Zentradi fleets out there in the galaxy, and at least as many Supervision fleets. This war is far from over, in fact this is only the beginning, the question is weather or not Gallaron is going to be part of it and for how long? We don't have to win the war right now, all we have to do is hang on until our time comes. We can do it, I know we can!"

Shikari stared at him for a long moment. Everything he was saying was completely illogical. Everything she knew about warfare and space combat told her that their entire space forces would be turned to ash by the end of the year, and every time she went over the facts she was left with the simple conclusion that there was nothing any of them could do about it. And yet, here Broli was telling her that victory was right around the corner, and all they had to do was wait for a chance to reach out and grab it. It was a ridiculous idea and she was about to say so, but then she remembered the fate of the Bodolza fleet 6 years ago. No one would have imagined that a thousand ships could have defeated 4 million, or that a little planet as backward as Earth could have possessed the weapons and technology to resist the Zentradi as much as they did. Of course there had been lots of surprises, the reflex weapons on ARMD-01 and 02 for instance, or the omni-directional barrier system of the Macross, and even the Grand Cannon that had cleared a path for SDF-1 and Britai's fleet to get to Bodolza's command ship. The micronians had time and again demonstrated an unnerving knack for beating the odds, or maybe it was simply their strength of culture that gave them the necessary edge in combat?

Shikari gave it a second thought and suddenly she saw Broli in a way she had never seen him before. He understood humans in ways she was sure she never would, saw things in ways most Zentradi would not understand. In him she saw a Zentradi soldier enhanced by protoculture, and in him she saw someone SHE could actually look up to for guidance, instead of having to have all the answers herself for a change. "Captain Broli, is this what the micronians call optimism or do you really think we can make it?"

Broli smiled and out his arm around her shoulders affectionately. "Of course we'll make it. We've got YOU on our side, don't we?"

Shikari smirked. "I guess I'd better start planning some miracles, right Kaalcha?"

"You got that right, we'll be needing them. In the mean time, there is one thing I would like you to look up for me. There isn't much data in the Zentradi computers or the micronian database either, so I figured I might as well ask you."

Shikari squinted at him. "Ask me what?"

Broli looked around and lowered his voice. "I want to know what makes a woman happy, like what factors could cause someone to be so obsessed with a man that she'd risk her life just to see him again. I know it's possible because it happened to Minmei."

Shikari raised a brow. "I think I understand, but why are you so interested?"

"You see, the way things are going I might have to postpone the wedding day with Commander Matheson, and I want to make an impression on her so she doesn't... well forget about me or something during the time we're separated."

"Ah, I see..." Shikari gave it a moment's thought and ran a scenarios in her head. "Sure I'll look into it, but at a guess I would think all you'd have to do is kill someone for her."

Broli thought about it, then shook his head. "It's never that easy. I bet there's some kind of elaborate ritual I have to memorize..."

--27:40--

Richard was on his way back from Mickey's bar where he had first met Minmei, but he had left much of his money in the bartender's pockets in exchange for almost a quart and a half of rum. In this case, he decided to walk home, and for a change he was exceedingly proud of himself. He knew he had managed to control himself before he overdid it tonight, and he felt like he should probably call Minmei and give her the good news that he was finally learning restraint. In reality, he had actually had much more than he thought he had, and was just intoxicated enough to seriously impair his judgment.

On the way home, he spotted a woman standing on the street corner in a large trench coat. She was quite possibly the most beautiful women he had ever seen, but he couldn't help but notice that this woman on the corner had the long dark purple hair of a meltran soldier. It enraged him to see a Zentradi hanging out so near to his home, but then a drunken-genius idea crept into his head. "Hey cutey." He said, approaching the woman. "What's your name?" 

"Imura." She said shyly, not looking directly at him.

"That's a pretty name." Richard said, trying his best to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "Can I help you with something?"

The woman turned and smiled at him, a smile that could melt icebergs. "Maybe... you see I'm lost, and this is my first time among micronians. I'm looking for army medical facility over by the airfield."

Richard smirked. She was almost 5 blocks in the wrong direction for that, not that he cared much. It just made his mission all the easier. "Let me guess, you're looking for Minmei?"

"What makes you say that?"

Richard chuckled. "I heard alot of Zentradi are big fans of hers..." He immediately thought of a way to use this to his advantage for the benefit of his hair-brained scheme. "You know, I know a shortcut to that hospital. We'd have to cut through the woods for a ways but it WOULD save you about half an hour of walking."

Imura looked back and forth down the street and seemed to realize suddenly that there was no one else in sight. Before she launched from SDF-2, one of the other pilots had mentioned something to her about strange people trying to lead her into a secluded place, though exactly what he was planning at this time was beyond her comprehension. "Uh... thanks, but I think I can get there on my own..."

She started to leave, but Richard grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to him. "Hey, don't be like that! Besides it isn't safe for you to be wandering around on your own like this!"

Imura tried to pull away from him, but he gripped her wrist with surprising firmness. "I'm fine by myself. Please let go of me..."

"No, I'm serious!" Richard grabbed her elbow with his other hand and pulled her away from the curb. "It's not safe for you to be out so late by yourself. Just let me walk you over there, it'd make me rest easier."

"Well... okay, I'll go with you." Imura stopped resisting and followed him for a few steps, then planted her foot and bolted in the opposite direction.

She managed to pull free from his grip for just a moment, but Richard managed to get a hold of her coat and pull her back into arms reach. Before she could do anything else, he wrapped his left arm around her throat and covered her mouth with his right hand before she could yell for help. "Fine, we'll do this the HARD way...!" He lifted her off her feet and dragged her a few meters down the sidewalk into an alleyway and around the corner to a dead end and set her down on the concrete. She struggled with him at first, but then she felt the barrel of a gun against the back of her head. "You know it's funny, I got this thing to get rid of that chink bastard and his goons, but now I've found a much better use for it."

Imura sat up slowly and came to her feet, the gun still pressed against her head. "You're going to regret this, micronian..." she said gravely.

"Sure I will." Richard said mockingly. He pushed the gun harder against her head and pushed down on her shoulders. "Get on your knees."

Imura dropped down to both knees and put her hands up next to her head. "You REALLY don't wanna do this..."

"Yes I do. Hell, this is the most fun I've had in months!" He said, making only the slightest effort to contain his laughter. He looked around the alley for a moment and saw a 2 x 4 sticking out of a nearby dumpster. It was perfect for what he needed. "Now here's something I've wanted to do for 6 and a half years..." He wound up and broke the board across the back of Imura's head and with a yelp she fell unconscious to the pavement. "...bitch." he said, kneeling down next to her. He rolled her onto her back and unbuttoned her coat. Oddly enough, he found that under the coat she was wearing what appeared to be a micronized version of a meltran flight suit, and when he thought about this it seemed to make his job much easier since it was certainly less to take off than the Naval uniforms of the "true" human officers. He fumbled with the seal along her waistline for a moment, but then something shiny on the ground next to her head caught his eye. He hadn't been able to see it before because of the trench coat, but now that he noticed it, something about it seemed extremely out of place. His intoxicated brain made up its mind to investigate it, so of course he set the gun down on the pavement and reached down to grab it.

As fast as a person blinks Imura's hands were clamped on his wrist. Then he felt the sole of her boot against his ribs, and before he knew it he was airborne. He sailed head over heals through the air until he came crashing against the dead end of the alley, and when he finally scrambled back to his feet Imura was standing in front of him. "Why are you taking off my uniform? Are you trying to rape me?"

Richard looked around and grabbed another 2 x 4 from the dumpster. "Keep away from me you freak!"

Imura stood in front of him and gave this more thought. "I heard that action is a serious misconduct in your culture. You must be very sure of yourself of you think you can get away with it..." She smiled and started walking towards him slowly. "Now I see! You intend to kill me, steal my clothes as trophy and then dispose of the body! Are your fighting skills THAT formidable?" 

Richard knew enough about the Zentradi mentality to see where she was going with this, and he didn't like it one bit, especially with his back to the wall like this. He took a swing at her, but she dodged it with the ease and started giggling, apparently deciding that he was toying with her. He tried it a few more times, and Imura's playful expression was replaced with one of confusion. "What are you doing? This is no time for games!"

"Hold still you space-nigger bitch!" Richard took another swing at her, but she ducked it again and danced around playfully dodging his attacks.

For several minutes he swung away with the board, and Imura danced around the blows as if it were a game, giggling and joking around as he tried to land the board on her to no avail. Richard kept at it with his usual persistence, but after a few minutes Imura started to grow bored. It became apparent to her that he really WAS going all out, and in this fact she found no pleasure, only growing disappointment. Finally, Richard took one last swing at her with all his strength, and the board snapped like a twig over her forearm and shattered into toothpicks. Imura stepped in and punched him in the jaw before he could respond, knocking him off his feet and sending him sprawling across the ground. "How were you supposed to kill me fighting like THAT?! You're pathetic!" Her voice was saturated with disgust. Like most Zentradi, she had a burning dislike for people with too much confidence and too little capability. "Get off your ass micronian! Finish what you started!" Richard stood up quickly and squared off in front of her. Imura dropped her guard for a moment, and Richard feinted to once side and then punched her in the face with his right.

Imura didn't even move, his fist bounced off her face as if she were made of granite, and she looked at him with a disgusted look on her face. "Even Shikari hits harder than THAT, hajoca!" Richard lunged forward and threw another punch; and Imura caught his elbow and twisted his arm against the joint, then stepped in under him and stuck her shoulder under his armpit, carrying his weight. She kept the pressure on until she felt his shoulder dislocate, and then bent his arm down again and shoulder threw him over his head to the concrete and held him there with a headlock. "What's the matter with you?! The only way anyone fights this poorly is on purpose!"

He clawed at her forearm against his neck and took a raspy breath of air. Imura released her grip just enough to give him a chance to retort. "I'd be a good fighter too if I spent all my spare time MURDERING people! You go to hell and take your whole fucking race with you!"

Imura sighed. "Fine, have it your way..." Richard looked up to see Imura reach over he shoulder and pull something out from behind her back. He saw the object that had caught his attention before, but for some reason failed to recognize it as the long hilt of a sword. "You'll be my slave in Jurruuqi, micronian. Next time we meet, I won't be so easy on you." She released her grip on him and kicked him in the back with her heel. Richard rolled forwards a few feet before coming back to his feet, and with an angry roar he charged her like a mad man...

He never even saw it coming. Imura's sword flashed through the air like the wings of a hummingbird and Richard's enraged shouting ended abruptly as his head leapt off his shoulders and spun in the air. His body dropped to its knees and collapsed to the ground beside her next to his severed head, and Imura picked it up and carried it to the other end of the alley and dropped it into a dumpster for the morning pickup. 

That little side-track over and done with, Imura walked to the nearest bus station and after a few minutes of looking at a map of the city she managed to get her bearings and figure out which way the hospital was where Corina was waiting for her. While she waited for the next bus, her mind turned over the fight with the now headless man who's name she hadn't even known. Even for a drunk, he was sloppy and weak, and by no stretch of imagination could he have even hoped to have killed her or even slightly injured her even WITH his little gun. He was perhaps the most physically unimpressive specimen she had ever encountered, and after a few minutes she almost started to feel sorry for him. She imagined he had probably lived a life of constant disappointments and defeats at the hands of superior opponents, and probably spent most of his time curled up with a bottle of kyshien, or whatever the micronian equivalent was... "Kyshien..." she said to herself. "What a great idea!" 

She got off the bus on Jefferson Boulevard and walked half a block to the dive one of the other pilots had mentioned to her, a grimy kind of place called Shanty's. She picked up two bottles of kyshien and cleaned herself up in the washroom, then left again to join the others at the military hospital.


	35. Chapter 34: Fading Away

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Chapter 34: Fading Away

--August 10, 2016--

--07:20--

Corina pushed Misa's wheelchair down the hall and around the corner to room 431 to see Lieutenant Douglass. It seemed to Misa that Sara had been expecting them for some time, and seeing the two of them enter the room brought a smile to her face. "Captain..." She said, barely above a whisper. "I saw them carrying you off the bridge in a stretcher. I'm so glad you're alive."

Corina set the wheelchair at the side of the bed and Misa grabbed Sara's hand. "How do you feel Lieutenant?"

Sara sighed. "My legs are shattered and I feel cold. The doctor's tell me my system's in shock from all the internal bleeding. I guess that means I'm gonna die..."

"Don't say that." Corina said, leaning over the bed. "You'll be just fine, don't be such a wimp!"

Sara chuckled. "C'mon, I fell off the goddamn balcony. I don't know why I'm not already dead."

"You're a survivor, Sara." Misa squeezed her hand, Sara squeezed back. "You've never backed down from anything, not even me."

Sara turned her head on the pillow to look at Misa. "I heard what happened to you, Captain. I'm so sorry."

"Hey, don't worry about me!" Misa sat up as strait as she could to look Sara in the eye. "You just concentrate on getting better. Worrying will only make it worse."

Sara turned her head and looked back at Corina. "You remember what we used to talk about? One of these days, you would be captain of the SDF-2, and I would be YOUR first officer. Oh, god I was looking forward to that..."

Corina reached down and grabbed her other hand, squeezing it until she could feel her pulse through the back of her wrist. "Commander Sara Douglass, as soon as you are feeling better, report to Alpha Factory as first officer of Megaroad-01. That's an order."

Sara smiled at her. "Orders received, Captain. I'll report in right away." She smiled at her for a moment, and then started giggling. "Oh Corina, please take care of Broli for me. I want you two to have lots of babies okay?"

Corina smiled, tears running down her cheeks. "I promise. I'll have a dozen babies and I'll name my first girl after you."

Sara giggled again. "Unless the Captain has one first..." Through her palms Corina could feel her pulse slowing, and her wrist started to twitch spastically. "...Captain I..." Her smile faded away and she froze, staring strait up at Corina with a blank, vacant expression. She took one last breath before Corina felt her pulse slow to a stop, but Sara's eyes remained fixed on her, staring through her into her soul. Corina stared right back at her, her own vision blurred with the tears in her eyes until the moment the Captain closed her eyes.

"Thank you Sara. Thank you for everything." Misa and Corina turned off the medical equipment next to the bed and left the room. Corina took the captain back to room 415 and rolled the chair up to the window. Imura was napping in a chair in the corner, and as carefully as she could Corina worked the bottle of kyshien out of her hands and handed it to Misa. The Captain took a large gulp of the Zentradi liquor and stared out the window in reflection. "I'll miss her." She said, handing off the bottle.

"Me too." Corina said, taking a sip. She pulled up a chair next to Misa's wheelchair and looked out the window with her. "She was like... I'll miss her alot."

For 20 minutes the two of them sat in silence, staring out the window thinking, remembering Sara Douglass. Her lack of self control and basic tact was annoying at times, amusing in others, and often times convenient since the idea of embarrassment seemed beyond her comprehension. Only Sara could have personally verified the location of Lieutenant Harper's tattoo, only Sara could have had the nerve to keep asking the Blake twins which one was which for the benefit of everyone else in the room. When everyone else had been too afraid to ask, Sara had been the one who walked up, tapped Minmei on the shoulder one day and asked her plainly and strait faced if she was a virgin. More than anything in the world, Misa remembered that day at Miko's second birthday... for some reason Miko wanted to know about how and when she was born, which inevitably lead to the dreaded question: "Where do babies come from?" Hikaru had vanished a split second later, probably hiding in a closet somewhere, and Misa had stammered nonsense for ten agonizing minutes before Sara appeared and explained... in surprisingly vivid detail... the entire process and sex and reproduction. Miko seemed to understand, and without incident she moved on to the next subject: "Where does ice cream come from?"

And then Misa thought of a more practical concern. "Corina, it's your ship now, your crew. Are you sure you're ready for this?"

Corina shook her head. "No one is ever ready for this, Captain. Commander McCarthy used to joke with us all the time about how nervous you were on your first day. You kept forgetting everyone's name..."

Misa laughed. "Oh that Linda! I KNEW she was talking about me behind my back..." Misa remembered her previous first officer with fond memories, 4 years of almost flawless service, the well practiced perfection of a 3rd generation naval officer. In all that time, Misa saw the irony that the only mistake she had ever made was to look the wrong way when crossing the street that one day... "We've paid too high a price Corina. Hikaru's optimistic, but I have no doubt that I'm going to spend the rest of my life in this damn wheelchair."

Corina looked up slowly at her Captain. "I'm optimistic too Captain."

"And I admire you for that, just like I admire Hikaru. But I want you to promise me something. No matter what happens to me or to anyone else on this planet, you keep fighting. Don't give up, don't surrender, don't let up for any reason or any amount of time until you've beaten them. We've all paid too high a price in this war already, and I'll be damned if we're going to lose to them now."

Corina stood up behind Misa and looked out the window, gazing out over the city stretched out before them, the massive lake on the edge of it, the forest hundreds of meters high, and the hills beyond, framing the horizon. "This is the planet my children will learn to call home, and their children after them. I promise you Captain I'll die before I let them have it."

--August 15, 2016--

--08:30--

"Enemy pods approaching from sector 412, coming out of the sun. Who's in range?" Broli's radio crackled with a series of negative calls, and as usual he found himself totally alone. "Fine, be that way..." He grumbled to himself. "Alright, Viper Squadron, we'll make the intercept. We'll use a fishhook to get behind em." Broli's squadron responded and all 12 Lightings banked away from their flight path to drop in behind the small division of enemy battlepods. Halfway to make the intercept, he happened to glance over to where the fleet was trading punches with the Supervision vessels. They were holding their own now, the enemy still couldn't get past the fold mines without harassment from fighter wings and what few gunships the Gallaron forces still had to their name, but there was still almost a thousand ships left in Lacul's entire force and half of them were right here before them, testing the perimeter for any signs of weakness. "Shikari, I need an update."

From the bridge of the SDF-Defiant, Broli could hear the woman stomping her foot in frustration. "Kaalcha, stop asking me for your damn updates! We're in a world of shit, that's all you need to know!"

Broli snickered. At least her mood seemed to be improving from the last time he checked in with her an hour ago. "No change huh? Hang in there baby!"

"Shut up and kill something!" She said, closing the channel.

"If you say so..." The enemy pod group was coming into range up ahead, and Broli started to smell blood. A standard sized battalion usually had about 100 pods, but there were alot more of them than he expected there would be; so much the better. He locked onto the pods in the front of the formation and fired half of his medium missiles, copycatted by the other 11 planes of his squadron in the same manner. Once again, the enemy pods made only the most half-assed effort to dodge the missiles, and dozens of them were disabled or destroyed by the warheads. Viper squadron tore through them, firing from the rear with laser cannons and micro missile from their FAST packs, dropping them 10 at a time with the first pass. The pod division reacted sluggishly in returning fire, some of them were so distracted by the open radio broadcasts from the SDF-05 that they barely responded at all. One or two became confused and fired on their comrades, others flew around in circles not really sure what was going on, and now Broli's squadron came around for another pass at the bewildered pod group. 

"It's amazing what you can get done with a little background music..." Broli fired several blasts from the beam cannons to drop a pair of Glaugs one after another as the song title changed again, this time to Lynn Minmei with _Under and Umbrella_. Broli timed another missile barrage to a few seconds after Minmei's voice came over the speakers, catching several enemy mecha suddenly off guard. "How in the world did they manage to drive us back like this?" Out of the corner of his eye, Broli saw a flash from explosions from one of his fighters. The left engine pylon broke free and the Lighting exploded an split second after the pilot ejected from the cockpit. Behind it's wreckage, two more battalions of battlepods were moving up to reinforce the ones Broli's squadron were tearing apart, with even more pods coming up behind them. "Oh yeah, THAT's how." 

He switched into soldier mode and prepared to engage these newcomers, but a blinding flash of light from behind the reinforcements obscured his vision. At first he though it was a reflex weapon or a large energy cannon from somewhere, but almost as soon as the light faded, the enemy pods disappeared a dozen at a time into explosions, struck down from the beams of the battle fortress that had just defolded behind them. A voice came over the radio as the sky suddenly filled with VF-1s and VF-4s from the new arrival. Broli recognized it, Lieutenant Harper's voice. "SDF-03 to Viper squadron, sorry to drop in like this but we were running alittle late and we didn't have time to hit the assigned defold coordinates."

Broli laughed out loud and moved his fighter up to the command tower of the ship to look into the bridge. "Harper old buddy! Good of you to show up! Where's the Monitor?"

Harper looked over the railing of the bridge at Broli's fighter. "Hikaru's taking Captain Misa to see one of the protocran healers. They'll be here in a few days. SDF-2's being repaired as fast as possible along with the rest of the fleet, but the earliest we can expect reinforcements is about two weeks."

"Two weeks is better than never..." Broli turned again to the enemy pod division, and was delighted to see it was no longer there. The other battalion enemy mecha coming up behind the ship was meeting the same fate as their forerunners at the hands of the Ajax's missile turrets and fighter units, and even as Broli watched a half dozen Destroid Monsters blasted away with their heavy cannons over the stern of the ship. Broli switched his second frequency back to the Defiant and called up Shikari on the bridge. "Hey General, your boyfriend's here!"

"Boyfriend?" Shikari said, confused.

"Boyfriend?" Harper said at almost the same time. "Broli, what the hell are you talking about?"

"We'll talk about it later." Broli said, setting his fighter down on the hull. "Harper, I hate to do this to you but..."

"Yeah, I know. Phoenix is out and you'll need a new ride until it gets back from the shop. By the way, the transport division is setting up large scale gun emplacements on some of the rocks out here, so you'll need to send fighter support to cover them. Aside from that, the ship's all yours!"

"Right..." He switched frequencies to contact his wingmen. "Viper 100 to Viper squadron, we're landing on SDF-03 to rearm and refuel. Viper 101 is in charge of the squadron until further notice. Don't blow it Shinshi!"

"Yes sir!" The pilot replied, turning to dock at the Ajax's fighter bays. Broli popped open his canopy and slipped into a hatch on the side of the bridge. He walked down the corridor to the bridge of the ship and found Lieutenant Harper already standing at the first officer's station on the left side of the bridge in front of the captain's chair. "Lieutenant Harper, gather an escort of Thors and take us into firing range of the mine fields. The enemy could break through any minute."

"Yes sir."

Broli said back in his chair and felt the rumble as the main engines roared to life to move the massive ship. "Damn it all." He grumbled to himself. "I'll bet Corina's already forgotten about me..."

--08:45--

Minmei barely heard the doorbell from the shower, but when she finally did she threw on a bathrobe and crept downstairs to answer it, knowing full well that there were only a handful of people in the entire city who knew she was here. She wasn't surprised to see Kai Chan standing in the door, but she was somewhat confused with the stunned, panicked look on his face. "What's the matter with you?" Kai Chan pushed past her and walked stiffly across the room to sit down on the couch. Minmei walked up behind him, not sure just what was going on. "Kai? What's the matter?"

"Sit down Minmei." He said, gesturing to the couch cushion next to him.

Minmei sat down and patted him on the shoulder. "Now what's this all about?"

Kai Chan was about to say something, then hesitated, then took a deep breath and said it anyone. "Minmei... it's about Richard..."

Minmei could guess what this was about. "Look, I don't really intend to go back with him, it's just that..."

"Minmei..." Kai looked up at her and stared into her eyes, then looked back down at his feet. "Richard's dead. They found him last night in an alley down the street from his apartment."

Minmei's face turned chalk white, and she felt her entire body start to sag. She leaned forward and rested her weight on her knees, trying her best not to fall over, covering her mouth with one hand as if she was about to scream. "Oh my god..." She whispered slowly. "Oh my god..."

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this but..."

Minmei took a deep breath and tried to collect herself. "My god... Richard..." With trembling hands she started to wipe tears out of her eyes. She tried not to picture him lying dead on the floor somewhere, but the image blazed through her thoughts and made her skin crawl. "I don't... this is... how did this happen?"

Kai took another deep breath and prepared to catch Minmei from what he was sure would be a tantrum. "He was murdered."

Minmei went numb. She found herself unable to think. "By who? Why?"

"I Don't know. We think probably Zentradi or Protocran."

Minmei's first impulse was to get up and fix herself a drink, but then she remembered the life growing inside her and reconsidered... as if she could have stood up right now if she wanted to. "How was he killed?" Minmei said at last.

Kai Chan's brain screamed for him to avoid the question. "You know, I talked to him a few days ago and made some arrangements..."

It was plainly obvious he as trying to dodge the question, and Minmei found his efforts to soften the blow somewhat irritating. "Knock it off Kai, just tell me. How was he killed?"

"Uhhhh.... well, It's a funny thing..." Kai took another deep breath and wiped sweat from his forehead. "You see...well it's like..." Minmei grew impatient and stared down at her feet, obviously no longer listening to him. Kai decided to get over himself and just spit it out. "Well, he was decapitated." Kai chuckled slightly before he could catch the impulse and stop himself.

Minmei looked up suddenly, then glanced at Kai Chan. "That's not funny."

"It's not supposed to be. The detectives are still looking for his head."

Minmei squinted at him, searching his eyes for any sign of dishonesty, but found only solemn duty. "What, you're serious?" Kai Chan nodded. Minmei took a moment to think about it. She pictured Richard's head sitting sideways on the pavement of an alley somewhere with a wine bottle in front of his face. "You're right... that IS kinda funny."

"Huh?"

Minmei thought about the idea. "He was..." She looked strait ahead, feeling a strange sensation wash over her. "He was decapitated..." She started giggling. "He lost his head for the last time..."

Kai was nervous, as most men would be sitting next to a laughing woman who had just learned of her husband's grisly murder. "Are you okay?"

Minmei stopped laughing. "I don't know. I didn't want this to happen but..." Minmei's eyes filled with tears again, and in the confusion of her emotions she threw her arms around him and cried into his shirt. "I'm so confused!"

Kai put his arms around her shoulders and let her stay their, burying her face in the fabric of his uniform to catch her tears. For a few minutes he left her alone with her grief and allowed her to just let it all out here and now, but intermittently she laughed again for a moment and then started crying again. Kai was inclined to agree, she was VERY confused. After more than half an hour she seemed to be running out of both tears and chuckles and Kai felt her body soften and relax. "You're happy to be rid of him..." He said, trying to understand her actions. "...but part of you is in agony, the part of you that still loved him even after all he did to you."

Minmei gave it some thought and nodded slowly, half exposing her face from the folds of his shirt. "Do you have any idea how terrified I was about moving back in with him? I mean I'm so madly in love with him that I'd be willing to risk my life just to be with him again... but I guess I don't have to be confused anymore, do I?"

Kai grabbed her by her shoulders and pulled her to her feet. She squirmed a bit from pain in the arm that had been broken but stood up next to him and he looked her dead in the eye. "Look Minmei, you'll live through all of this, I know you will. I hate to have to say it at a time like this, but you deserve alot better than a man like that could ever give you. You're a beautiful woman and a wonderful human being, and one of these days you are going to find a man who makes you as happy as you make everyone else."

"You think so?"

Kai nodded. "I know so. You don't have to be afraid, I know you'll find someone who'll treat you the way you deserve to be treated."

Minmei turned away from him and walked towards the kitchen, finding a very real urge to feed herself. "What can I do now? Where can I go?"

Kai followed her into the kitchen. "You sang at the final battle of the Space War, didn't you?"

Minmei opened the fridge and started to gather materials for a ham sandwich. "I did it to confuse the Bodolza fleet. Why?"

"I heard a rumor that the protodeviln are afraid of music. Maybe you should move on to bigger things? It might help for you if you sing in battle again."

Minmei paused at the idea. It seemed like the thing to do, but there were other concerns. "I can't...."

"C'mon, it's just a song. To you it's just something you do, a little talent you've developed that isn't much more than a song and dance to entertain people. To them... it's the end of the world."

Minmei opened a bottle of mustard and started to fix the sandwich. "That's a good idea, and you might be right about moving on to bigger things. But what about the baby?"

Kai nodded. "Yeah, good point. You might not wanna endanger your family..."

"That's not what I mean." Minmei finished the sandwich and looked around for a knife. "What if, 20 years from now, this war is still being fought? What if I'm still singing in battle, using my voice against those ancient demons? What if my sons or daughters get caught up in it too? What if... Kai, what if I had to watch him die in battle? How could I live with myself if..."

Kai Chan handed her a knife to cut the sandwich. "The way things have been going recently, it'll go on for AT LEAST 20 more years. We've already lost so many people in this war and this is only the beginning. It's times like this the line between soldier and civilian gets blurred."

Minmei sensed some hidden meaning in his words. "Times like this?"

Kai walked towards her slowly and looked deep into her eyes. "Do you remember what happened in Beijing in the summer of 2005?"

Minmei scanned back in her memory, and the images on the TV screen from when she was 12 years old, the images that had started Kaifun's legendary anti-military campaign: a city on fire, overrun by anti-UN troops and held hostage in the demand that the SDF-1 project be cancelled and the money be funneled into welfare programs for the jobless all over the globe. It didn't work out the way they planned it, the entire population of the city rose up against them with every weapon they could find, steal or make from scratch. When it was over, the bodies of anti-UN soldiers littered the streets, side by side with an army of women and children with shotguns and pitchforks from one end of the city to the other. "What a nightmare..."

"My parents were killed there, along with everyone I grew up with. Beijing happened because there weren't enough soldiers to fight back the enemy, so the rest of us had to take up the burden of defending our freedom."

Minmei stared at him blankly, then shook her head in disgust. "Kai, I want my children to live in a world without war, a world where they can be free to live in peace. I don't want them getting involved in that kind of..."

"That won't happen Minmei. The way things are going now, your GRANDCHILDREN could be four-star generals before this war is over. There are more of them then there are of us, and ALL of them are soldiers. We can't pull any punches, we need everyone to help out, especially you. We need your voice."

Somehow, Minmei knew there was some truth in his words, though not in the most specific sense. She remembered her plans with Richard before that night, about volunteering with the defense forces to try and help out. She remembered in the hospital, singing to wounded soldiers at the ends of their lives or in times of stress. And once again she remembered that day on the Macross, the day the Zentradi actually boarded the ship. Her songs had given them all some kind of superhuman strength and courage, even as a thousand Regults marched through the city blasting everything and everyone in sight. "We need people to remind the soldiers what they're fighting for?"

Kai Chan nodded. "And besides, if the protodeviln really are afraid of music, you might very well be the only one in this entire colony who can beat them. And by the way, if you're planning on going back into performing, I would really appreciate a remix of Zero-G Love. Just a thought." Minmei laughed and took a bite of the sandwich. Kai Chan turned to go. "If you're busy this Friday, I'm gonna have Fei Chan take you in for a sonogram."

Minmei was puzzled. "Isn't it a bit early for that?"

Kai Chan grinned in the doorway. "Haven't you noticed how much weight you've gained in such a short time? I wanna make sure your BABY isn't pregnant."

"Uhhh..." Minmei looked down at her abdomen, which almost seemed twice as large as the last time she looked. "Okay, what time is he coming by?"

"He'll call you around 4 LM." Kai Chan paused in the doorway and winked at her. "See ya later."

"Okay, bye. And thank you for telling me Kai." Minmei watched him go, and then finished eating the sandwich. Despite the news she had just received, Minmei felt as if some horrible load had been lifted from her shoulders. She wouldn't have to fight herself anymore, she wouldn't have to scream to herself everyday to forget him, she would no longer have to pray every day for the strength to put him out of her soul. It was all over with, it was done. Richard was gone, literally cut out of her life like a tumor. The face of the man she loved, the lips that had kissed every inch of her body, the tongue that had spewed romanticized nonsense that had permanently snared her heart... all had vanished without a trace. For Minmei, this was all it really was, her husband had vanished into thin air, never to be seen again. It was time to start over, to start a new life and move in exciting new directions. And she would start Friday afternoon with a look at her baby.

--August 14, 2016--

--14:15--

Corina gazed out from the micron-sized observation lounge at the great hull of SDF-2 Megaroad-01. The hull was being quickly repaired and any damaged systems were replaced completely with new parts instead of being fixed. Anything that didn't work at 100% was replaced, and all of the fighters were being changed out and replaced as well. The upgraded VF-1Fs were being loaded in favor of some of the VF-4 Squadrons, since the Valkyrie model could carry more ordinance than the Lightings and had slightly better range with fast packs equipped. They had all fallen into their new niche, the Lighting fighters with their superior agility and gun armament had become fleet interceptors and the Valkyries with thier increased payload and longer range had become the bombers. Soon the flagship would be ready for action, and Corina would be cast into the flames once again.

She heard laughter from somewhere off to her left and looked over to see Misa roving around in her wheelchair with Miko on her lap, rolling around in circles and figure-eights, back and forth, swerving left and right in a vain effort to make Miko dizzy. The attempt was a failure, and Corina understood that Hikaru had actually started teaching his daughter how to pilot a Lighting in the atmosphere of one of Gallaron's moons. She found it all very strange, 4 years old and already learning to fly; Corina was older than that before she learned how to ride a bike. She looked around the chamber and saw Hikaru walking up from the far bulkhead. Obviously unwilling to interrupt their fun, he came over to Corina's side and put his hand on her shoulders. "Can you handle this beast Captain?" He said softly.

"I doubt it." Corina said. "But I can sure as hell try. Besides, you'll be right behind me with SDF-04. If I screw up too bad, you'll be there to set me strait."

Hikaru chuckled. "You'll do just fine. You've got a few days before the ship's combat ready again, but the bridge is all repaired and the crew quarters are open again. If you want to get used to your new chair before we go..."

The idea of sitting in Captain Misa's chair still gave Corina the creeps. She half expected Misa would appear out of nowhere and slap her around the room as soon as her butt hit the cushion. "I think I'll wait a while on that one. Which reminds me, how'd it go at the healer's? You took her there right before you launched didn't you?"

Hikaru nodded. "They didn't need to macronize her for this, but they did do SOME good. She's starting to get feeling back in her hips, and a few of them came back with us to complete the process. In another year, we'll be ready to flush that wheelchair right out the airlock." Corina smiled at the idea, and then Hikaru thought of something else. "We need a plan. All we have with us are 16 Thors and a Zentradi carrier. The defense line won't stand up to them unless something changes in a big way."

Corina looked Megaroad over from bow to stern as if her answer was printed somewhere along its hull. "I don't know... I'm sure I'll think of something..."

"Excuse me..." A very young officer with short red hair and wild look in her eyes tapped Corina on the shoulder. "Do you know where I can find Captain Matheson?"

"That's me." Corina said, turning her shoulders. "And you are?"

"Lieutenant Commander Amelia Ryder, your new exec. I just wanted to touch base with you before we launched."

Corina looked back at the ship. "We're still a few days away. Why are you in such a hurry?"

Amelia sighed. "Captain... you see it's Broli."

"Broli?"

"He... well... well we're all very worried about him. Shikari asked me to talk to you about him, he keeps worrying that you've forgotten about him or something."

Corina understood. She was sure she felt exactly the same way he did, and now that she thought about it, with the Phoenix out of action like it was all she had to do was make it through this battle and then she would have him all to herself for at least a few days. "We'll get underway as soon as possible, Commander Ryder. In the mean time, you should probably get settled in to your new quarters while you have the chance."

"Yes ma'am." Amelia saluted and walked off towards the boarding ramp into the ship. 

Corina watched her go, then looked back at Misa playing with her daughter in the wheelchair. "Meanwhile, I think I'll go get used to MY new chair..." she said, more to herself than to Hikaru.


	36. Chapter 35: Baby Pictures

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Chapter 35: Baby Pictures

--August 16, 2016--

--04:30--

It wasn't unusual for a woman to walk into the marine barracks of the GDF to the sight of dozens of half naked men and women stowing their uniforms and clothes and covering up in beach towels for the macronization process. It was something psychologists had wondered about since the first soldiers were sent into space; most of the grunts had somehow grown beyond seeing fighting women as any particular object of desire, instead preferring what little sleep they could get to a torrid sexual relationship. None of them really paid attention to any of the females in their own unit, clothed or unclothed, except under very rare circumstances. So of course, Imura's reaction when she came into the room was humorous to say the least, squeaking in panic and bolting out of the room as if she'd just been caught stealing. The other soldiers exploded in laughter, and Kai Chan tugged his pants back up to talk to her before she got scared away. "What's up commander?" He said, peeking around the corner.

Imura's eyes were squeezed tight and her back was pressed against the wall. As soon as she heard Kai's voice she took a step back and turned her head away. "I'm sorry Lieutenant! Don't come too close to me!"

Kai tried to keep from laughing, and with her eyes closed he was glad she couldn't see how much of an effort it really was. "Imura, what did you come to see me about?"

Imura reached over her shoulder and pulled the strap on the sword sheath. "I wanted to give this back to you."

Kai took the sword in hand and looked at her questionably. "We're going back to full size, Imura. You might as well keep it."

Imura opened her eyes and looked at him. "But it's a thakun! Isn't is special to you?"

"Thakun? No, it's a kittanna. My brother gave it to me for my birthday a few years ago, but I never really used it."

Imura looked at the sword for a long moment. "It looks like a thakun. You know, if you take a man's head with this thing he has to be your slave in the afterlife."

"Really?"

Imura looked back up at him. "You sure you don't want it? It's VERY well balanced and well crafted. You might change your mind later."

Kai chuckled. "But you see, that's why I'm giving it to YOU. I don't know jack shit about swords or bladed weapons, as far as I'm concerned it might as well be a fork."

Imura nodded and put the sword back over her shoulder. "I've been assigned to SDF-2 as tactical officer in place Lieutenant Douglass. Of course Captain Misa has offered me command of my own ship, but..."

"Yeah, you have to look after Commander Matheson until her wedding day."

Imura nodded and turned to walk away from him. "Once again, thank you for the gift Lieutenant Chan. Next time I'll find a more worthy opponent for it."

Kai caught the meaning of her words a few seconds later than usual. "What do you mean worthy oppo...? Imura did you...?!"

"Did I what?" She said looking over her shoulder.

Kai wasn't sure, and he didn't really think so, but just in case he was right, he decided it was best not to ask. "Never mind. Good luck out there Commander."

--17:45--

Minmei felt a slight chill, the colder than usual air-conditioning in the doctor's office raising goose bumps on her skin. She hated the paper thin cotton gowns they always make you wear in doctor's offices, but like everyone else, Minmei was too afraid to risk some unspoken penalty by refusing to wear it. But then she felt a flutter, some tickling sensation deep inside her, and she realized for the first time that she could feel the baby moving. "I'm getting worried." She said, looking over at Fei Chan in the chair by the wall.

"About what? They always keep you waiting..."

"No, I mean the baby. I'm only 4 months pregnant and I look like a whale! I have the feeling this is going to be a very difficult birth."

Fei Chan laughed, and then the door opened. A short woman with cherry red hair came in with a clipboard and a white coat. "Sorry that took so long. One of the nurses was trying to photocopy your signature onto a few things. You know, autographs and stuff." Minmei laughed, but the doctor stared at her. "You think I'm kidding don't you?"

Minmei stopped laughing. "Well aren't you?"

The doctor shook her head in disgust. "I wish..." The doctor switched on a small machine next to the table and turned on the monitors. "Okay, we sent the amniotic samples to the lab already and we should be getting those back in a few minutes..." she looked over her clipboard to see what else was left. "Blood test... pH levels... Oh, you wanted a sonogram too right?"

Minmei nodded. "I know it's alittle early..."

"No, it's okay. You'd be surprised how many people come in to have a sneak peek." She typed in a command to the machine and pulled up several small pads from beneath the table. "Besides, I've been DYING to try this thing."

"What is it?" Minmei sat up, a little bit nervous.

"A new protoculture imaging system. They use it to image internal injuries before surgeries. It's supposed to have much better resolution than the standard sonogram because it uses a bio-neural filter system to figure out what it's looking for." The doctor pulled up the flap of the hospital gown and positioned the pads against her abdomen. "Looks like a healthy little guy."

"No kidding." Fei Chan said. "What do you think? Fiteen, maybe twenty pounds?"

Minmei rolled her eyes. "That's right, go ahead and make fun of big fat Minmei."

"Hey, it's only for 4 more months. My brothers put me through the same thing when my kids were born." The doctor turned on the machine and started the scan. "Okay, let's see what we have here..." she moved the pads around, trying to get them all in the right spot as an image finally started to form. "I think... maybe... THERE we are!"

Fei Chan rushed around the table and looked at the monitor with a huge smile. The baby was moving, squirming around inside her womb as if trying to scratch his back. "Whoa! He looks just like me!"

"Let me see..." Minmei reached over to turn the screen around, but the doctor pushed both of them away.

"Wait a sec, something's wrong here..." She looked at the data scrolling on one of the monitors for a few seconds and then adjusted the pads on Minmei's skin and typed a few codes into the keyboard to adjust the sensors. "Okay, it's a boy... about medium to small sized..." She moved one sensor and typed in a series of numbers to clear up the image. She looked at it for a moment and grinned. "I knew it, he's got a brother..."

"BROTHER?!" Minmei and Fei Chan both shouted.

"Uh huh. Congratulations, you've got twins." she said, turning the monitor. "Have a look." Minmei looked and she looked but still could not believe what she was seeing. There before her, the image of not one but two babies growing inside her body, facing each other as if staring each other down, twins. "There are two separate amniotes here, so they're not identical. But the data shows alot of structural similarities in the gene pattern, which is common in brothers born close to each other. After all, how much closer can you get than at the same time?" Minmei stared at the screen for a long moment unable to speak, as did Fei Chan.

The doctor waited for some reply, though from experience she expected both of them to be at a loss for words for at least an hour. A few minutes of quiet came and went, and then Minmei started crying. "Twins!" She said, wiping her eyes. "I'm having twins! TWO babies! Not just one, TWO of them!"

Fei Chan pulled up a chair and sat down next to the bed. "Just don't give them similar names, okay?"

Minmei laughed looked at the screen again. "I wish they were girls. Then I'd name them Pai and Mai! No, I guess I'll name these two Andy and Randy."

Fei Chan shook his head in disgust. "Oh, you laugh now, but you've never been in a classroom with three kids who look EXACTLY the same with almost the same name. Any time one of us had a rivalry or something, all three of us had to fight the guy because no one could tell which one of us they were pissed at!"

Minmei chuckled and looked back at the monitor. "How about Ben and Jerry then?" She said with a smirk. For a long time she lay there looking at it until something else crossed her mind. "You like kids Fei Chan?"

"Of course I do. Why?"

Minmei stared at the monitor for a moment, then looked him strait in the eye. "You told me once you used to take care of your sister's kids when you lived in China."

Fei Chan nodded. "That's right..."

"I know this is a big thing to ask, but I don't know if I can trust anyone else. Richard said something to me before he died that got me thinking, and... well I don't know if I'm really the person to look after them..."

"You're thinking about adoption?"

Minmei nodded in embarrassment. "I'm only thinking about it. I'm asking you because I trust you and I know you like kids..."

Fei Chan had worried she would say something like this, but even now he was no more prepared for it. "Don't even ASK me that." He said leaning close to her. "I can't let you do that. You don't realize it now, but if you gave them up you'd end up regretting it for the rest of your life."

Minmei looked at him, then back at the screen, and nodded at him. "You're right, of course. But this won't be easy for me..." She paused for a moment and collected her thoughts. "I'm gonna be needing a new husband too."

"That's true. I'll get to work on it right away."

Minmei smiled at him, then turned to the doctor. "You have a phone? I wanna call Kai Chan and give him the good news."

"Why you calling Kai Chan?" Fei Chan said curiously. "Why not tell Hikaru?"

"I'm gonna tell him, don't worry..." Minmei thought about in honestly for a few moments. "That's really weird. Why did I think of Kai Chan?" She said to herself.

Fei Chan smiled at the idea that popped into his mind, but didn't say anything else on the matter.

--August 19, 2016--

--21:15--

Corina was still a bit unsure of herself in the Captain's seat of the most powerful ship in the Gallaron fleet. Misa had told her everything she had to know about being in command, which basically boiled down to three words: "Don't screw up." She reflected on the advice and the deeper meaning of the words for almost two days while the ship was being repaired, then finally gave up and decided there was no meaning to them. She would just have to figure it all out as she went, and adhere to the Captain's code as closely as possible. "Don't screw up."

The Megaroad, the Monitor and more than a dozen destroyers defolded behind the Gallaron fleet in the Bolo system at almost the same time the Supervision fleet penetrated the mine field and started to engage. The transport division had set up a second mine field within range of the large gun emplacements on the surface of the nearby planets and some of the orbiting asteroid fields, but the guns themselves would not be functional for at least another 24 hours. But Corina had a plan, inspired by Minmei's phone call of all things, that just might buy them the time they needed. "This is Delta calling Gunsight Three and Five, request situation update."

Broli was alittle relieved to hear Amelia's professional tones again, but this was no time to reminisce about the good old days. "Ajax to Delta Command, enemy ships have overrun the mine fields and are advancing on our front. Shore batteries won't be operational in time to have any effect, we need to stop their advance before they get into cannon range."

"Copy that, Ajax. Standby..." Amelia looked over her shoulder at her new Captain. The idea had seemed silly enough when she explained it to the senior officers, and even more so when she had explained to the tech division just what she planned to do. The particle lens of the main cannon was not designed for this kind of operation, neither for that matter was the ship's holographic system installed in what used to be the city block of the ship. And yet Corina had total confidence that her plan would work, and that it would reduce the need to openly engage the enemy fleet in combat to almost nothing. "Delta to all ships, cease all broadcasts and video transmissions, cancel all play lists. Standby to relay the following transmission on all frequencies." And then the radio lines went dead. The music from Shikari's ship stopped completely, and the assorted video clips all ceased. The effect it had on the enemy ships and mecha was impressive, many officers and soldiers of the Supervision Fleet became even more confused than ever, some of them actually breaking free of their mental conditioning and questioning the orders of their superiors. The enemy fleet continued to advance however, even despite all the confusion from the sudden lack of the culture broadcasts, and at any minute their fleet would be in firing range of the Gallaron warships.

Corina waited until SDF-2 was at the front of the Gallaron formation, and then she gave the order. "Alright... All ships, commence Operation Miko."

And then the transmissions resumed again, but there was no music this time, now dancing, no light effects. The image was in fact home video footage from Hikaru Ichijo's personal library, a video he and Lieutenant Harper had shot in the delivery room 4 years ago, and since then had shared with most everyone else he knew for laughs and reviewed with his wife on many sleepless nights. The video started midway through one of the contractions, and Misa's face turned bright red. At the same time, all of the enemy mecha and ships halted their advance, not really sure what was going on but certainly not liking this one bit. At the same time, more than half of the soldiers in the Gallaron fleet stopped in wonder and stared at their monitors, even General Shikari gazed at the screen wide eyed. Another contraction and a push, and Hikaru announced that she could see her head. Thousands of Glaug battlepods gathered together in a defensive formation, pilots looking around in all directions for some kind of unpleasant surprise. "Here she comes... push Misa!" Hikaru shouted. Some of the Glaugs spun around in space, looking back behind them nervously, while others hung motionless and stared at their monitors in shock. The crews of the enemy ships were even worse off, half of them had already forgotten they were about to engage in battle.

And then, on their monitors, Misa pushed again, and the speakers filled with the cries of Miko's squealing. "It's a girl!" Hikaru said on the video. 

Corina timed her move perfectly. "Imura take us forward and engage holographic systems on my command..." Corina glanced over at Imura's consol and saw the woman standing at her consol staring at the screen, face frozen in an expression of utter amazement. "IMURA!"

The meltran snapped out of her trance and with trembling hands set helm control to manual and powered up the particle lens. The ship fired its engines and lurched forward, and as soon as they were in range the particle lens projected a hologram in space ahead of them almost 10 kilometers across. The monitors of every ship and every mecha were suddenly filled with the image of the newborn Miko Ichijo wrapped in a blanket in her mother's arms.

What followed across the entire battlefield was utter pandemonium. On the bridge of the Defiant, General Shikari's first officer passed out on the floor, followed in short by most of the Zentradi crewmen in both the Gallaron and Supervision Fleet. Thousands of Glaug pods saw the image approaching and failed to notice the ship behind it. All of them fired into the hologram with their weapons as it came close, and when their beams passed harmlessly through it they all began to flee in terror. The enemy fleet had much the same reaction, some of them folding out of the system without even bothering to recover their spaceborne mecha. Other ships fired in vain into the holographic projection before they too turned and ran like frightened animals, and across the enemy fleet all of them were powering up their fold drives. SDF-2 advanced behind the screen of a holographic infant for a few minutes until it came into range of its target, and then out of nowhere the image flashed as a massive wash of particles passed through it and struck down the enemy's flagship.

One of the commanders on the leading battleship trembled in fear, then opened up a radio line to the remainder of the fleet. "The Zentradi have released some kind of mutant! It's even more powerful than Lacul!" Any Supervision vessels left made up their mind at that moment, and the skies of the Bolo system were ablaze with the light of hyperspace folds. In a matter of seconds, the Supervision Fleet had been reduced to an army of terrified schoolboys and scattered in every direction as fast as their fold drives could take them. Some of them folded too far through the Arturo sector's unpredictable spatial properties and ended up on the far side of the galaxy. Others simply defolded too close to planetary objects in nearby star systems and crashed only moments after their arrival. They were in chaos, fleeing in terror from something as benign as the birth of a baby girl.

In the aftermath of the broadcast, Gallaron's fighters had an easy time mopping up the few battlepods and warships left behind, but at the same time the GSDF had to pick up the pieces of it's own fleet. Thousands of petrified Zentradi were calling in to SDF-2 for some kind of explanation as to just what exactly they had just seen and what in the world was happening to them. Like the Supervision Fleet, many of them feared some kind of contagion or mutation. On the Megaroad, Imura milled around on the bridge with sweat dripping from her face, demanding to know if the condition was contagious and if there was a cure. She was had about made up her mind to head down to the infirmary for an examination before Corina managed to assure her that she was most definitely not pregnant.

Misa watched the commotion in their own ranks from the bridge of the Monitor with Miko sitting on her lap. She laughed at their reaction, admired their innocence, and scoffed at their ignorance all at the same time. Now she reminded herself that they had used a very powerful weapon on their enemies, now it was her turn to explain it all to their allies before it backfired on them. "Miko, all the army guys want to see you."

"See me?" She said shyly.

"That's right." Hikaru said, lifting her up. "They want to see the little soldier who just scared away all the bad guys."

Miko put her arms around Hikaru's neck and climbed up unto his shoulders. He held her in place there and walked up to the front of the bridge in hopes of putting their allies at ease again. He could just imagine thousands of freaked out meltran officers climbing the walls in their ships right now... "Open a channel to all ships on all standard frequencies." Hikaru's first officer opened the channel. "Everyone's looking at you Miko." He whispered. "Say hi to all the army guys."

"Hi everybody!" Miko waved at the cameras with a 50-foot smile.

--23:30--

There were dozens of people, both protoculture and Zentradi lined up in the command and control center of Lacul's fortress, staring at the image of the giant of giants on the main view screen hanging over their heads. The room was large enough to fit all 10 of the macron-sized officers, and the command balcony on a pedestal in the center of the room had all 20 of the protoculture microns of his command staff. All of them stood at attention, some freed from stasis for the first time in thousands of years for the task Lacul was now preparing them for.

Lacul looked them over one by one, satisfied that they were indeed ready to reengage in combat and scorch the universe once again. "My dear generals," He began, a note of what might have been mistaken for affection in his voice. "I'm sure some of you have guessed the reason for your reactivation. We have located one of the colonies of the protoculture and found it to contain a great deal of advanced technology that our forces need in order to survive. Unfortunately, the inhabitants of this colony have restored much of this technology and used it against us, and our advanced fleets are at this moment probing their defense lines for a weakness. The defenders of this Gallaron colony have put up much heavier resistance than we ever would have imagined, and now the time has come to bring the rest of our reserves out of stasis."

"Are we to assume that our allies are on their way to join us My Lord?" Asked Sarron, one of the older protoculture generals.

"That's right. The first of them will arrive in a few days and then we will start to rebuild our forces. When the new ships become available, each of you will be given command of a small branch fleet and will coordinate your efforts to remove the enemy presence that stands in the way of our conquests. I should mention to you that the enemy has been using culture attacks and psychological warfare against some of our newer troops and commanders, which has greatly reduced our combat effectiveness. But I'm sure this will not be a problem for men of your experience."

Sarride stepped forward, shot an evil glance at Sarron, which he returned to her in kind, then looked up at the monitor. "What kind of equipment are we facing here? I presume it's the standard Gazan class frigates and micron battlepods…"

"I'm afraid not. The colonists have managed to salvage several small scale missile destroyers and they've even converted some of our gunboats into frontline warships. They're also using a new type of mecha, a kind of variable fighter that can more than match the performance of most of our powered armors, and they've somehow found a way to develop reflex weaponry small enough to mount on these fighters."

Sarron raised a brow. "Reflex weapons? Where in the world did these people come from?' 

Sarride rolled her eyes at Sarron's reaction. It was not the first time they had defeated an opponent armed with reflex weaponry, though the mid-sized missile destroyers were hardly a pleasant thing to have around. Then again, Sarride had heard that the Supervision Army had gained their own reflex weapon stockpiles in the time she'd been in stasis, so she wasn't particularly concerned about the enemy's advanced weapons. "They shouldn't bee too much trouble My Lord, but we might run into trouble unless we know exactly what their capabilities are. Can Kraken provide us with the specifics at a later time?" 

Lacul smirked. "Kraken doesn't need to."

A gravity platform rose up from the back of the room and moved towards the command platform in the pedestal in the center of the room. Everyone turned to look at the one responsible for the interruption, and found themselves looking at a grizzled, well-worn man of a race none of them had ever seen before. "And just who is this one?" Sarron said, looking him over cautiously. "I have never seen him before, or his race. Where'd you find him, a protoculture nursery?"

Lacul smiled. "His name is Samuel Bennet, a ranking officer of the colony fleet that has given us so much trouble. We had hoped to move against Bennet's home planet to acquire some of their advanced technology, but the Gallaron forces intercepted us before we could get clear of the sector. Based on Admiral Bennet's intelligence, Kraken has deduced that it would be a considerable gamble to launch and unsuccessful attack on the UN Spacey and end up with TWO dangerous enemies instead of one. Since Bennet has experience in dealing with our current objective, he will lead the first wave of our counter attack against the Gallaron fleet."

There were groans and complaints from around the room, and Admiral Bennet chuckled at their reaction. Ever since the protodeviln reprogrammed his brain, he had found it hard to take much of anything seriously. "Looks like I'm your specialist." He said grinning. "I will need the cooperation and support of all of you in order to overcome Misa's forces. If you can't do that… well we can never have too many Glaug pilots, don't you think?"

Some of the Protoculture and Zentradi generals found him irritating, the arrogant little upstart Lacul had picked up god knows where who represented yet another a threat to their progress, just one more new face to draw attention away from their victories. All of them wanted Lacul to see their accomplishments, they wanted their master to be proud of them the way a child aspires to impress his parents. But the smarter ones among them started to think of ways to use this to their advantage, seeing Bennet as a possible stepping-stone to winning Lacul's favor. "You'll have our support Bennet." Said Lazuli, a very tall woman with long black hair down to her knees. "I trust you can determine the weaknesses of our enemies?"

"That I can. I know their leader Misa Ichijo. She's creative and a capable leader, but she IS somewhat predictable."

"Excellent." Lazuli turned back to the monitor to see Lacul grinning over the whole conversation. Obviously he found something about this as entertaining as Bennet did. "My Lord, my fleet will assist Admiral Bennet's task force to the fullest extent. How soon can we expect reinforcements from our other fronts around the galaxy?"

"You enjoy groveling too much Lazuli." Lacul said. Lazuli blushed, and the others shot her a look of disdain. "The first of them are already entering this sector and will rendezvous with us in a few days. Bennet will take command of the first fleet when they are fully assembled, you will command the second. Sarride and Jinai will command the next two, the rest of you return to normal procedures in the chain of command." All of them saluted and Lacul clicked off the monitor.

As soon as they were out of earshot of the other generals in Lacul's massive control booth, Kraken cleared his throat and spoke his piece. "Sire, I don't trust that Bennet. He's far too impulsive for his own good, and much too aggressive for us to control. He may turn into a serious liability."

Lacul laughed. "You know me Kraken. How am I any different? Besides, Bennet was a man with a great deal of spiritia when we captured him. In the absence of that energy, aggression is all he has left. I look forward to seeing him in combat."

"But what about THEIR generals? That Shikari has pulled quite a few interesting tricks even before her fleet joined with the protoculture. Even if Bennet is familiar with Captain Misa, Shikari and the others will certainly be a wild card."

Lacul chuckled. "You worry too much, Kraken. Let's just put the man in the field and see how he does."

--August 21, 2016--

--15:40--

Minmei had been wired almost all week, and if it hadn't been for the fact that she weighed 260 pounds on this planet, she would have been bouncing off the walls of her house. She and Fei Chan had spent the last two days doubling all of the baby supplies and toys they had already bought, a second crib, second set of baby toys, four additional pairs of Spiderman pajamas for what they now knew would be twin boys. On Monday morning they went up to Richard's apartment and moved all of her stuff onto a moving van, sold all of Richard's things... especially the iron, the carving knife and the spear tipped laser rifle... and the two of them set up the baby's room in the most appropriate spot in the house: Miko's room, still decorated with Daffy Duck wallpaper. Fei Chan had gone home last night, leaving Minmei to fly around the house redecorating and moving furniture in preparation for the arrival of her new family.

She was lost in thought with a list of baby names in her hand when the ground started to rumble. She listened for a moment for the sound of tanks or artillery rolling by or else the rumble of a starship passing overhead, but after a moment the rumble broke down into a rhythmic thumping like something hitting the ground... she ran out of the house and up the stairs and climbed out the window of the bedroom onto the roof. A column of macron-sized soldiers were walking in a ragged line up the street towards the airfield in Zentradi armor and rifles slung over their shoulders, laughing and joking as they went. Dozens of humans and protocrans on the sidewalk and along the street were standing on their rooftops or leaning out of windows shouting cheers or whistling at the soldiers as they passed by, and before Minmei knew it she was joining in right along with them, cheering and calling out as the soldiers passed by.

And then she saw someone she recognized, one of the soldiers of Kai's unit she had seen only once before in the APC. She thought back to him for a moment and then remembered his name, then ran to the side of the roof and yelled up at him as he passed. "Hey Forest!" The private stopped in his tracks and knelt down next to the building. He was surprised to see that Minmei appeared to be pregnant, but more surprised to see her standing on the roof of what used to be the Colonel's house. "Forest, where's the Lieutenant?"

"He raht back der somewhere... HEY LIEUTENANT!" Forest yelled back down the column of macron soldiers and one of them poked his head out from between two Zentradi riflemen with a GU-11 gunpod slung over his shoulder.

"Hey Kai! Over here!" Minmei shouted as loud as she could.

The Lieutenant smiled at the sound of her voice, walked over and knelt down next to Private Forest. "Hey there Miss Macross! I got your message, but I couldn't believe it! So you're having twins, huh?"

Minmei chuckled. "That's right. I'm a walking family in one convenient little package."

Kai grinned. "I don't envy the trouble you'll have birthing those two. In this gravity, that's going to be... interesting."

"Oh, c'mon!" Minmei teased. "We women are the stronger breed, it's no wonder all meltrandi are officers!"

Forest laughed. "I don't see YOU signing up for the OTC!"

"I'm a delicate flower! Combat upsets my stomach." Forest stood up and joined in the column and left Minmei alone with Kai for a few moments. "Hey, you guys headed to the front?"

Kai nodded. "My battalion's being transferred out to the rim. They're setting up those gun emplacements on all the outlying planets at Gulara and Ralga and they needed a few good men to cover the engineers. I guess they must've figured out that if you want the job done, you gotta send in the marines!"

Minmei rolled her eyes. "Well Mr. Badass, if you're quite through bragging on yourself, I want you to make me a promise."

"Depends. What is it?"

"The next time you're in this city, no matter what size you are, I want you to stop by and visit me."

Kai squinted at her. "Why Minmei! If I didn't know better I'd swear you were actually going to MISS me!"

"Hell no, I just want to be able to laugh at you when you get your fingers shot off or something."

Kai set his hand down on the roof palm up. "Fair enough..." Minmei climbed into his hand and Kai stood up and held her next to his face. "I'll visit you on one condition: If I don't get back by the time the kids are born, send me some pictures by E-mail. I'm sure the whole squad'll want to see the little brats."

Minmei leaned over and pocked her head into his ear. "It's a deal. But don't tell anyone else about this until I get the chance to break it to all the papers and everything. I want to see the look on those idiots faces when I give them the news."

Kai chuckled and nodded in agreement, and he set Minmei down on the rooftop of the house again. "See you soon. I'll write you every... every couple months to let you know I'm not dead."

"Have Forest do it. This way I'll know for sure when you ARE dead."

Kai waved goodbye to her and fell back into the column of soldiers. Seemingly hundreds more walked by the house towards the airfield, and then Minmei heard the mechanical hum of Zentradi landing ships taking off from the base.


	37. Chapter 36: The 2nd Supervision War

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Chapter 36: The 2nd Supervision War

--September 5, 2016--

--32:50--

Broli's quarters on SDF-102 had been quiet for hours since the Zentradi captain left the room, though the rest of the ship had been anything but. Most of the officers were celebrating the anticipated if not hastily executed occasion, and by this time of night things were winding down and just about everyone was getting back to their ships and quarters to return to duty. The quiet in Broli's quarters was disturbed finally when someone keyed the lock from the outside, and the door slid open to reveal the Zentradi officer in a tuxedo carrying his human bridge in his arms. He turned and stepped into the room slowly, careful not to bump Corina's head against the doorway as he came in, then carried her through the living room to the couch at the end in front of the TV. "How about it Kitten?" Broli said playfully, rubbing his wife's feet as she stretched her legs across his lap. "Broli Matheson Kidronik. I like the sound of that, don't you?"

Corina smiled in agreement. "That sounds excellent. As for you, how does it feel to be a married man?"

"Not too different. Now my only worry is if you get mad at me."

Corina laughed. "How could I ever stay mad at you for ANYTHING? You always try so hard just to make me happy and you don't even have to!"

Broli shrugged. "I don't know how hard I'm supposed to try, sorry."

"Don't be sorry! Just be the man I married!"

Broli shrugged again. "How do I do that again?"

"Just be yourself! I married YOU Broli, not your checkbook or your capacity to make me happy."

"What a relief. I'm too much of a looser to keep up this act."

Corina reached up and grabbed him by his tie, pulling him down to look at her face to face. "We have just this one night together before they send us back into combat. Let's not waste it."

Broli smiled, guessing at what was implying. "What'd you have in mind?"

"Well..." Corina pulled him closer and whispered in his ear. Broli grinned, then smiled, then stopped and stared at her with his jaw hanging open. 

"Kitten, that sounds kinda dangerous..."

Corina twisted her little finger through her hair. "Micronians do it all the time here. I'VE never done it, but now I'm kinda curious."

Broli could see she was serious about this, and without another word he picked her up off the couch and carried her into the bedroom. "How long do we have exactly?"

Corina craned her head around and looked past him to the clock on the wall. "15 hours."

Broli stopped and turned around, this time heading for the kitchen. "That's more time than I thought." 

He stopped in front of the refrigerator and Corina opened it for him, took out a bottle of champagne and two glasses. "Onward Broli!" she said, pointing to the bedroom again.

"Yes dear!" He shifted his weight and pushed the door open with his foot, and once inside set his new wife down on the bed. "You are now in my turf, Kitten. Let old Broli make the world spin around you."

Corina laughed and stretched out on the bed. "Spin away baby!"

--September 6, 2016--

--02:15--

The battle in the Griaga sector had become a spaceborne riot, with Supervision Army and Zentradi warships trading punches in groups of thousands for a range of millions of miles. The fighting had spread out across 20 star systems, and with half a million ships between both combatants battle line there was no real end in sight. That same battle might easily go on for 10 more years at this pace before there was finally a victor, but the Zentradi forces of the 182nd Botoru fleet were used to this kind of extended engagement, it was all part of their life.

What confused them now was the behavior of the enemy fleet. Many of the ships were withdrawing from the battlefield leaving their comrades to cover their retreat, and by now thousands of enemy ships had already broken away towards the center of the galaxy. Supreme Commander Gyzol had been keeping a close eye on the enemy course ever since they started to pull out of the battle 3 months ago, and by now he had managed to calculate that their ships appeared to be headed towards the Arturo sector, a region of space on the edge of the 118th fleet's patrol zone. Gyzol could not understand the enemy thinking; they only had 200 divisions available, and yet they were headed for a region of space controlled by the Bodolza fleet as if to reinforce their allies there. The action seemed like a considerable military blunder, but then he reminded himself that all of his efforts to contact Bodolza had failed and that his forces had not heard from them in almost 8 years. As unlikely as it was, Gyzol had to grapple with the possibility that the Bodolza fleet, the largest Zentradi fleet ever assembled, had somehow fallen to the Supervision Army. 

On this day he was restless, watching enemy vessels fold out of battles 10 at a time while their comrades covered their escape. Soon the pursuit would take them into regions of rough space where fold jumps were limited to only a few light-years, but for now the enemy ships could fold halfway across the galaxy on whatever whim had moved them to go there in the first place. He was lost in thought trying to understand the bewildering actions of the enemy when the Comms officer signaled his control room. "Commandant Gyzol, incoming message from the Arturo sector. IFF signal unidentified."

Gyzol raised a brow. "Not Zentradi? Then how could they know our frequencies?" He said, thinking out loud. "Alright, put it through."

A communications window appeared in front of him and Gyzol was greeted by the face of a somewhat intimidating looking meltran. "Commandant Gyzol, this is General Shikari Raskanos calling from the Arturo Sector. We request urgent reinforcements."

Gyzol smiled brightly. "Arturo sector? You are with the Bodolza fleet, aren't you?"

There was a pause of a few minutes while the signal covered the several thousand light-years between them, and then Shikari's reply came through. "Bodolza has been destroyed, along with his command ship and almost a third of the main fleet. The ships are scattered and disorganized, we have no central leadership."

Gyzol figured as much. In any case, a fold operation to the Arturo sector would take about 12 hours before they had to negotiate rough space to reach their objective. "What's your situation General Shikari?"

Another pause, and then on the monitors the general was smiling. "That's a bigger question than you realize, Commandant. Basically, elements of our fleet have joined forces with a small protoculture fleet. Thanks to their assistance, we have gained the use of nuclear reflex weapons and advanced technologies. On the other hand, the enemy fleet has also gained this technology, and we have also confirmed the presence of a protodeviln in their higher command structure. Their objective is to capture an old Protoculture colony and two disabled factory satellites in near orbit to rebuild their fleet strength, and with the advantage of their new weapons they would become unstoppable. We have setup a defense perimeter around the planet but we are besieged and can't hold out much longer."

This was quite a lot of information to have to digest in one sitting. The fall of Bodolza... Nuclear weapons... joining with protoculture... a protodeviln... Gyzol's entire perception of the universe had turned completely inside-out in the 30 seconds it took Shikari to summarize their situation. It was as if he had fallen asleep and woke up in some alternate dimension where the galaxy turned backwards and females incompetent weaklings. "General, we have 300 divisions and 27 Quodrono groups available. The earliest we can arrive to assist you is about ten days from now, and even then it's doubtful that Supervision Army will allow us to push through them to join forces with you."

"All we need is for you to draw some of their attention away from us, and press an attack on their opposite front. We're heavily outnumbered but if you can just buy us some time we can build up our forces and push the enemy back away from our defense line. This could be our big chance to defeat the Supervision Army once and for all."

Gyzol nodded. "Then we will be underway. In the mean time, what are we to do about that protodeviln? If they really do have reflex weapons, every Supervision ship in the galaxy will be headed strait for you."

"Leave that to us, Commandant. All we need is the time to build up our fleet and then we can overcome the enemy forces. Since you are already on your way to join us, it would be wise to inform the other Zentradi fleets of our status and ask for additional reinforcements."

Gyzol frowned. "I don't know if they'll be much help. Bodolza's fleet was by far the largest, the others are fairly small by comparison."

"Don't worry about it Commandant. Just send the request and gather as many of the others as you can. With the enemy's reflex weapons, it is going to be extremely difficult to fight them no matter how many ships you bring to the party."

--05:40--

There were already Supervision Army warships in the Bokata system awaiting the arrival of the reinforcement fleet that would be used to attack the Gallaron defense line. More than half of Lacul's forces were gathered here for the rendezvous, most of which would remain here to be deployed against the onrushing Botoru fleet in the prevailing weeks. By all rights, Lacul's forces should have been annihilated by the Bodolza fleet years ago, and Lacul wasn't about to give a second rate outfit like the Botoru fleet a chance to finish what Bodolza started.

Lazuli was on the command ship that would lead the counter attack on the Botoru front, while the other command ship and a single battleship would take a group of reinforcements to attack the Gallaron front and hopefully push through them in time to further tip the scales in favor of the Supervision Army before the Botoru fleet could do more damage. Admiral Sam Bennet was impressed with the battleship Lacul had given him, by all rights it quite a bit more impressive than the ARMD carriers he had gotten used to. This ship was three and a half kilometers long and had enough firepower to take on an entire fleet of UN starships at once, but Bennet knew that the UN Spacey had a number of nasty surprises that made even ships this powerful utterly useless.

As the first ships folded into the system, Bennet's comm window opened with an image of Lazuli on the bridge of her command ship, seemingly light-years of jet-black hair streaming behind her. "Bennet, every 7th ship in this formation will be placed under your command. Keep in mind that none of them are equipped with reflex weaponry yet, so you will have to take outfit them yourself at the second waypoint just beyond the battle line. There are supply ships waiting there for you."

Bennet smirked. "Thanks for the tip, Lazuli." As always, his head was swimming as if he hadn't slept in weeks, but the overwritten personality in his head was fully alert and as usual barely took her seriously. "Lazuli, what's the deal with Sarride and Sarron? They seem to hate each other quite a bit and I'm not sure why."

"Since Lacul purified our minds, it's difficult to tell. I do know this much, Sarride and Sarron used to be married."

Bennet raised a brow. "Married? No wonder they hate each other..."

"It's worse than you think. Both of them were part of the original Supervision Army half a million years ago. Lacul's been keeping them in stasis and activates them only for special occasions, but this is the first time in thousands of years either of them have been active at the same time because they fight so much it's impossible to get anything done when they're together."

"I see." Bennet snickered again. "What about Kraken? What's HIS deal?"

Lazuli sighed. "Kraken is an inspiration to all of us. Lacul never had to purify HIS mind, he was without sin from the moment he was activated. The going theory is that Lacul created him so he could have a companion who could truly understands him..."

Sarride broke into the conversation in another window, nostrils flaring, light blue hair almost standing on end. "You're so full of it Lazuli! Kraken thinks that by kissing Lacul's ass every second of his life, Lacul might enhance his body just like he did himself. He craves the kind of power most of us can't even dream about and doesn't care how low he has to stoop in order to get it."

Bennet could relate. He had those same types of cravings himself from time to time, as did some of his companions back on Earth. "I suppose that makes Kraken our immediate superior, and since he'll be fighting at the Gallaron front I better watch my step around him. And then there's Jinai..."

"Don't worry about Jinai." Sarride said scornfully. "He's some kind of retard. Lacul didn't even bother purifying his mind because he doesn't really have one."

"Hm. Good to know." Several hundred more ships folded into the system all at once, and as Lazuli had said every 10th ship moved towards his battleship and made formation for a hyperspace fold. "As soon as we have enough ships, I will be leaving for the rendezvous point with the supply transports. The rest of you sure as HELL better fight back the damn Zentradi or else I will become very annoyed with you."

Sarride chuckled. "Bold words from the newbee, don't you think Lazuli?"

As usual, the long haired general was meek in her reply. "Lacul says he has experience, maybe he really knows what he's doing...?"

"It was a rhetorical question, Lazuli. Don't hurt yourself by thinking too much." Sarride counted off the number of ships in the system now; there were 4,000 across the entire system with more and more arriving every minute. The Botoru fleet would be right on their heels when the last of them finally arrived, and she knew they needed to make every second count if they were going to outfit all of their ships with the new reflex warheads. "Bennet, take 500 vessels of your choosing and get a move on. The supply ships are waiting for you near in the Berren System, and once your ships are outfitted for battle you are to probe the perimeter of the Gallaron defense network for weaknesses and find a way through. Weather you make progress or not, Jinai's fleet will provide reinforcements."

Bennet powered up the ship's fold systems and plotted his fold routes. "Roger. On my way." his crew worked sluggishly over their controls, signaling 500 ships of the rapidly growing formation to follow their fold route towards the Berren system. "She'll be more cautious since we have all the numbers advantage... I'll have to push my way in, inch by inch..." Admiral Bennet's fold drives activated and his battleship vanished into hyperspace along with 500 cruisers and destroyers towards the rendezvous point in the Berren System.

Sarride waited until his ship was long gone before calling Lazuli again, the one soldier in this entire army she even remotely regarded as a friend. "What's your opinion of him Lazuli?"

"He's a very brave man. Incredibly stupid, but he has plenty of courage to go around."

Sarride nodded. "Keep an eye on that one. He might turn out to be a serious liability to us."

"Liability?"

Sarride frowned. "Lacul may have purged his mind of impure thoughts, but because he is still new to the cause he retains some of the stain of protoculture. It won't be easy to purify the galaxy with people like HIM leading the charge."

Lazuli shrugged. "If all else fails, we can eliminate him ourselves after he has served his purpose. But enough of this, we need to concentrate on refitting our reinforcements, and YOU need to get to the Gallaron front to supervise Bennet's offensive."

"Of course, I know that. May you win every fight, Lazuli." Sarride closed the channel and folded out of the system right on Bennet's heals with a small escort of destroyers right along behind her. "Alright protoculture," She grumbled to herself spitefully. "Let's just see how long a bunch of primitives like you can stand against a truly enlightened warrior..."

--19:30--

Corina was sitting in the captain's chair on SDF-2, looking over the ship's systems checks and the tactical board on her screens. The Gallaron space fleet had been divided up into smaller groups to help alleviate their numerical inferiority, and by now they were divided into fleets and battle groups with whatever ships they could assemble in one place at once time. SDF-2 was in command of the 2nd fleet with 25 Thor class destroyers, 10 Zentradi destroyers and pickets and 6 gunboats, while all the other Superdimensional cruisers gathered around in similar formations. There were just over 300 ships in the Gallaron forces, with each fleet divided into two or three groups around a single cruiser or destroyer combination as a flagship. General Shikari was leading the 3rd fleet from the SDF-05 Defiant, while Hikaru and Misa Commanded the 4th fleet with SDF-04 Monitor. SDF-03 Ajax was assigned as the command ship for one of the 3rd fleet's destroyer groups, while each of the other ships moved up as flagships of groups in each of the other fleets. As more and more ships rolled off the assembly line at Alpha factory, this temporary fleet organization would be subject to almost constant change, especially as the number of Zentradi ships continued to dwindle away during battle. 

The monitor in front of the captain's chair flashed the display at last, the ship's systems were up to power again and the fold system was ready. The 2nd fleet was headed towards the 18th quadrant to reinforce the ships already in combat there, and all the other ships had their destinations mapped out. All those that would be leaving would fold at the same time, those that remained in the Bolo system would see them off. "This is Delta Two calling all support ships, standby fold operations on my command." The main screen in front of the bridge registered a power surge in the ships that would be traveling with them, this was all she needed as a reply. "Amelia, prepare to fold."

"Fold engines at your discretion, Captain." Lieutenant Ryder's fingers flew over her consol like a well practiced blur, checking over all ship's systems. 

Corina took one last look at SDF-102 off the ship's starboard side, one last look at the new husband she was leaving behind. "Execute."

The entire fleet was bathed in the light of SDF-2's fold drives as all 5 kilometers of the ship and all 40 of its escorts vanished into hyperspace. The departure plan had been pre-assigned and all the commanders knew when it was time to go. The departure of Megaroad-01 was Hikaru's cue to activate his own fold systems and get underway himself along with his own small battle group. "Want to give the order Misa?" Hikaru said, turning slightly to face her next to his chair.

Misa shook her head. "I think Miko wants to try it."

At the mention of her name, Miko sat up suddenly and looked around confused. "What Mommy?"

"Tell the crew to engage the fold system so we can go."

Miko stared at her. "You mean me?"

"Yes you. Go on, it's okay."

Miko cleared her throat and in as dramatic a voice as a four-year-old can manage gave the order. "Commamer Gashi, engage the fold sysem."

Hikaru's first office smiled and sent the command to the navigators, and in another flash of light SDF-04 and its destroyer group was gone as well.

And now it was Shikari's turn, the SDF Defiant with it's 40 ships destined for the Kalibus Corridor. Shikari was still monitoring her communications link from the picket ships to the Botoru fleet en route to support them, any minute now they would come in contact with Lacul's opposite flank and the Supervision Army would be trapped in a two front war. Glancing out of the Observation bubble of her ship, Shikari found herself staring at the other cruiser in her group SDF-03 Ajax under command of Captain Harper, that silly micronian who had apparently tried to flirt with her a number of times before he found our who she really was. She reminded herself to do more research on micronian social rituals, and then she forced her mind back into focus. "Navigation, commence hyperspace fold." Another flash of light and 40 more ships faded out of the system towards their targets.

The crew of the Phoenix watched the other ships leaving dozens at a time towards their targets, knowing that when they all left there would only be a few Gallaron warships left to defend this system. The newly completed city block of the repaired Phoenix was four levels high, or 20 standard stories, which made it just big enough to fit all the personnel and merchant services required for an extended tour of duty. A large section of the bottom most level had been emptied out for the ship's mess hall facilities, basically a 5 story restaurant with balconies poised in front of a huge open viewport next to a massive food court for the ships macron-sized personnel. It was in the food court that half a platoon of macron-sized marines stared at the departing fleet through the massive viewport in the side of the ship, some of them still finishing meals but most just lost in thought. Kai Chan, for some reason, found himself thinking about Minmei again. We was as excited as she was about the twins, but for some strange reason he was afraid of what might happen next, afraid of her future and maybe his as well. Why his future could have anything to do with Minmei or her children was anyone's guess, but he still couldn't shake the image of the little pop star on the roof of her house with a tiny little pot-belly promising him to come and visit her. He made a mental calendar to get some leave in the next four months so he could be there when the babies were due... "Hey Lieutenant," Private Beecher, Forest, Alako and three other Queadlunn-Rau pilots walked across the massive room and sat down at the table next to him. "You read the papers lately?"

Kai Chan shook his head. "It just isn't the same on the big screens. I wish they could print em out for us, but that's waste of paper isn't it?"

Beecher seemed to agree, but it was besides the point. "Anyway, Captain Elensh did an interview with Stars and Stripes the other day right before Captain Matheson's wedding."

Kai turned to face them, suddenly more interested. "Go on."

"She said something about how the most recent history of the galaxy breaks down the conflict with the Supervision Army into two wars, the Schism War where the protoculture was almost annihilated, and the Supervision War that started after the Zentradi became self aware. She mentioned that since the Zentradi are finally fighting along side the protoculture again, this really is more like the 2nd Supervision War."

Kai Chan stared at her for a moment. "And...?"

"That's what they're calling this now, the 2nd Supervision War..." Alako said, looking out the viewport where a de-fold reaction was illuminating the sky. A new ship and 15 destroyers appeared outside and immediately began to offload spare fighters and powered armors onto the ships of Broli's battle group, but at the center of them was a new ship they hadn't seen before. "Speak of the devil." Alako said, a not of impression in his voice. "That's Captain Elensh's new ship."

Kai Chan and Forest turned and looked and there it was, a new superdimensional battlecruiser almost 1700 meters in length, a one of a kind vessel built from the ship Kai Chan's very squad had captured in the Mishalla system weeks ago, with a second smaller cruiser right along side of it. "Isn't that...?"

"SDF-06 Modimel, and the big one's SDF-07 Macbeth, Imura's boat." Forest said impressed. "They dug up the hull of a ship on Gallaron that'll probably be SDF-08 when they're done, but the crews are Alpha Factory are already working on the factory programs to build a cruiser from scratch."

Kai Chan looked back at Forest in recognition. "I heard about that! They're calling it Project Victory, right?"

Beecher nodded. "That's right. It'll be the first Gallaron cruiser to be built from scratch instead of salvaged from old wrecks. They've got a new batch of destroyers in the works already, but of course it takes 6 months to finish the whole load of them."

Kai Chan checked this over with his mental calendar. "6 months isn't very long, we can manage that." Even as he watched, the two cruisers began a field test of their new transformation systems, the improved modular fittings that could perform a full ship transformation in only 3 minutes. "2nd Supervision War, huh? You know, when I joined this colony mission I figured we might run into trouble out there in space somewhere, but I never figured on us running head first into a war."

Beecher nodded. "If you'd told me then I'd be 50 feet tall fighting in Zentradi powered armors, I would have had you committed."

There was a commotion in the back of the room, and Kai Chan looked over his shoulder to see two macron soldiers burst in with rifles in their hands. "Lieutenant Chan, enemy ground troops have infiltrated the forest region near the third gunnery station! Captain Broli wants the 2nd and 4th platoons to make planetfall within the hour!"

Kai Chan grinned at his marines around the table. "Well that's that. C'mon guys, we got some asses to kick." Kai Chan left the table and headed off towards the door, followed by dozens of marines in the two assigned platoons and dozens of micronian pilots running along the catwalks at shoulder height. Kai Chan grit his teeth in anticipation; it was finally time to find out how Zentradi grunts fought their battles.

--September 13, 2016--

--04:40--

The sky was almost full of light. In the space all around her there were explosions on top of explosions as beams from both fleets crisscrossed between and through the ships. Minmei wasn't much of a military expert, but she recognized the Thor class destroyers and superdimensional cruisers on one side, with a massive armada of Supervision Army warships on the other. There were thousands of ships lined up, exchanging punches with energy weapons large and small, and there were millions of variable fighters and strange powered armors swarming about every which way to engage the enemy fighter pods. For some reason, her focus centered on a super dimension fortress near the front of the formation marked SDF-09. Though transformed for battle, it was already badly damaged and half of its weapon systems were out of action, but it still pushed on through the enemy fire as if it were invincible. It was apparent to Minmei that this ship was moving towards some very specific objective for some reason she could not understand, but a dozen other ships were following and soon hundreds more followed them. Whoever was on that ship was certainly someone who inspired them to bravery she decided, considering the madness of the battle all around him. Even as she watched, 10 ships took hits and broke apart as they advanced towards their target, but the lead ship still pushed on, even as beams and missiles ripped larger and larger pieces out of her hull.

She moved towards this ship, drawn in by some force she knew not what, and passed through the clear dome around the bridge and control room to set her feet in the deck just in front of the rear door. There were flames all around the bridge, and the rear walls were stained with the blood of two dead officers on the floor, one of them headless, the other missing a leg and an arm. The captain of the ship lay dead in her chair with a piece of shrapnel protruding from her skull, but someone else was in charge and had been apparently for quite some time. The floor rocked violently as still more enemy fire pelted the ship form all sides, but she could see from the display on the holoscreen in front of the bridge that they were nearing their objective. And then she noticed two officers standing in front of the bridge, one of them barking orders into the radio while the other frantically attempted to keep the ship's offensive systems operating. The ship's first officer lay dead on the floor, and the woman who was now standing at the first officer's station had tied her hair on one long braid she draped over her right shoulder. She had a commanding presence that seemed to demand attention from anyone in the sound of her voice, but the voice itself was gentle and redeeming, as if she spat orders and obscenities to her crew and added "pretty please" after every sentence. 

For an instant, Minmei thought it must be Misa, but her hair was black and much longer. When she stepped through the flames and came up behind her, she noticed an Ensign's rank pins on the tattered and bloodied shoulders of her uniform. She decided if it was not Misa or Corina, then surely it must be Miko 16 years from now... but for some reason that didn't seem right either. she pondered over this question for a moment or two before she ultimately gave up on guessing and started walking around in front of her to see her face. But even as she made that first step, the large holoscreen in the front of the room began flashing as the ship reached its destination, and the woman at the first officer's station took a deep breath, cleared her throat, and started to sing a song she had never heard before. She knew immediately who it was though she could just barely believe it, but before the name could leave her tongue a blinding beam of light from the main cannon of some kind of gunboat appeared in front of them and smashed into the ship... the image lasted only a fraction of an instant but it was now burned into her mind like a photograph tattooed into the side of her brain; Minmei was looking strait into her own terrified face at the moment of her death the instant before she was swept away by a destructive force powerful enough to blast entire cities into atoms. She watched the uniform char and ash, she watched her skin peel and crack in the wash of particles, and in an instant she watched herself turned to vapor and scattered into the nuclear inferno of what had moments ago been a variable battlecruiser...

She woke up screaming in her house, sheets soaked in sweat and trembling in terror. This was the third time she'd had this dream since Kai Chan left for the front lines, but this was the first time she had seen herself in it, the first time she had seen her own death on a strange battlecruiser. She waited a few moments to catch her breath, then stood up slowly and walked to the window, watching the thin haze on the horizon of approaching sunrise. "A dream before dawn comes true doesn't' it?" she said to herself, still grappling with the bizarre image of watching her own demise in a distant battlefield. She was sure there was some hidden meaning to it, perhaps Gallaron was going to loose the war after all and she, along with everyone else on this planet, would be killed in the final battle just like her parents. Or maybe it was a dream about her own life, that something about the path she had chosen was leading her into self destruction. She remembered Hikaru once told her he'd had a similar dream, and now she remembered the timing of it had been shortly before Richard started to become abusive... self destruction again.

She felt a flutter of movement deep inside her and patted her belly with her fingers. One or both of the babies was moving again, and every day the sensation became more and more acute until she could almost count the number of toes on the baby's foot. "Sorry guys, didn't mean to wake you up." She still felt shaky and nervous from the dream, so she made up her mind to go to the kitchen downstairs and make some breakfast. Just getting down the stairs was becoming more and more difficult, and by the time she got to the bottom she heard the thump on the front door of the morning newspaper hitting the house. She opened the door just a crack and pulled the paper into the house, still weary of paparazzis that might want to snap a shot of a very pregnant Lynn Minmei, and then stopped and stared at the headline on the newspaper and the eerie parallel she was now seeing. "Superdimensional Fortress Victory to begin final development and final planning this weekend." She said, reading the article aloud. "A spokesman for the Alpha Factory Development project states that the ship will probably be given the model number SDF-09..." She felt a sudden chill, then read it again. "SDF-09..." she thought back to that last terrifying image again, by now the only thing that she could really remember clearly from the dream. But while she considered this, her eyes drifted down to a second headline near the bottom of the page. "Jan Morris to take over the Tonight Show starting Monday, October 21st..." Minmei got an idea. She went through the address book she had recovered from her apartment after Richard's death and looked up a number. Jan had original given them the number in case of problems with their honeymoon, and now Minmei would use it to tell Jan, and soon the whole colony just how it had all worked out. Naturally, it was none of anyone's business, but she was certain more than enough people out there would get a kick out of it.

Even as she dialed the number, her eyes drifted back to the writing on the other headline, "SDF-09... the Superdimensional Fortress Victory."

_____________________________________________________________

ON THE NEXT CHAPTER

Strongly recommend you read it and not skip it, and don't get scared or nervous anything. This is not the end at all, trust me on this. There's still plenty more to come from your old pal Newtype Alpha ^_^


	38. Epilogue

****

--EPILOGUE--

The GSDF's famous victory in the Bolo System was perhaps one of the most important turning points in Gallaron history, second only to the arrival of Megaroad-01 at the planet itself and the Battle of Gallaron/Operation Thunderchild some years later. It marked the first time in half a million years a protoculture fleet had successfully held its ground against the Supervision Army, with or without the aide of Zentradi assistance. Oddly enough, the Bolo system also marked the first combat engagement of Miko Ichijo, a girl who is said to have been conceived in the cockpit of a variable fighter. Miko's performance in this battle was superb though not intentional, and she single handedly drove the enemy fleet out of Bolo for one of Gallaron's greatest triumphs. Things only seemed to get brighter from here.

A few days after Admiral Bennet's fleet began it's all front attack on Gallaron's defensive perimeters, the construction teams of the factory satellite opened two new blocks of the giant facility. Alpha factory was now operating at 10% of its original capacity, and Omega factory was now up to 4.5%. A storage unit of automated maintenance drones was recovered, and the designs were reverse engineered so the assembly lines could make more of them. The operational blocks of the factory expanded slowly, the drones would repair a new section of the factory block, then the repaired section would be put to work producing more drones to speed up production. Several asteroids were brought in from the surrounding space and broken down as raw material for the factory, and the first new batch of ships immediately went into production.

All the while, Gallaron fleets operating on the front had learned their lesson from the debacle of Soccoro-Delcaan. Heavy engagements were forbidden, and now the Gallaron fleet made every effort to avoid going head to head with the a large enemy formation. Instead, they relied on trickery and cleaver maneuvering to either break down enemy fleets to a more manageable size or draw them into an ambush where they could all be destroyed with minimal amounts of effort. Losses were kept to a minimum, the survival rate of soldiers in the field increased by ten fold. Gallaron forces even managed to damage the Supervision Army's ability to fight by intercepting supply ships carrying replacement mecha and reflex weapons to ships on the frontlines, much to the dismay of Admiral Bennet.

And yet, despite all their efforts and all their successes, Gallaron was losing the war. More enemy reinforcements poured into the Arturo sector from elsewhere, while Lacul's army of drones worked feverishly to repair his crippled command base and factory facilities. It would be almost 9 months before he would be able to move again, and in that time he brooded over his options and looked for new ways to move against his enemies. He watched his allies arrive from other parts and other battles around the galaxy, watched them slip into his damaged fortress for refitting and rearming with the new reflex weapons and as many of the new variable powered armors as he could cram into them. He watched the Zentradi draw ever closer, the command fortress of the 182nd Botoru Fleet and 350,000 Zentradi warships and thought of a million ways to dispatch them without a problem. 

And then he watched something very unexpected, something even the Gallaron forces found utterly amazing. A number of colony ships, some of them more than 2 million years old, began limping into Gallaron space to seek sanctuary from Lacul's minions who had hunted them across the star systems for eons without rest. Rumors of the Gallaron colony had spread across what was left of the Stellar Republic, a few dozen scattered and terrified world's along the galactic rim. More than a few of them had packed up whatever they could carry and whoever was left alive and struck out in search of those fools who dared to oppose the Demon's Empire. But the more of them that came to Gallaron space, the stronger their force seemed to grow. Their ancient colony ships were cannibalized to make new warships, their soldiers were trained with new weapons and new techniques and rushed into service. Slowly but surely, the rag-tagged nuisance that was the Gallaron colony suddenly became a very real threat to Lacul's vision. Instead of being merely an obstacle to overcome on his way to dominance, he saw them for the first time as an enemy that could actively resist his will, and this very concept blinded him with rage.

Gallaron, that expansionist regime UN Government would one day come to despise had seen its humble beginnings as a port of call for refugees of a long forgotten race. The all but extinct species of the protoculture had begun to crowd around it for protection, and every day saw the threat of extinction for the entire colony and it's citizens. For their frontline forces, every day was a battle, every hour lived might be the last. With clenched teeth their soldiers flung themselves into battle again and again, and with tears in their eyes they dragged the bodies of their comrades back to their home bases for burial in the mass graves that even today litter the planets closest to the Gallaron system. It would have been quite and experience to have lived in the colonies during that time, to see the tension in the air and the uncertainty in everyone's eyes as the civilians waited for news from the front, or to see Minmei in her home, feeling the movement of the two lives growing inside her. 

These were the sights and sounds of history being made, the birthplace of a legend. It did not begin with a tyrant or a fanatic's vision of dominance, it was not born of idealism or the unification of a people for the goal of conquest. Gallaron was and is a nation born and bound by necessity, driven by the human will to survive. Aggression was never their motivation, expansion and conquest was never their goal (contrary to the self righteous propaganda that has saturated the media as of late). From the start they were challenged and from the start they faced their enemies without hesitation. The star of the Republic is the perfect symbol, the star of courage that represents the relationship between fear and victory. A culture broadcast could defeat the Zentradi fighting spirit, but that same culture could also restore it ten fold, as the Supervision Army found out more and more every day as the war went on.

Not that this is the end of the story; the war had just begun and the enemy was still strong. After 35 years the story can finally be told... are you ready to know the truth?

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- Fleet Admiral Maximilian Jenius

37th Colonization Fleet

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NOTE: This story is getting cluttered and I've decided to break it down from here for the benefit of the readers. Thank you all who have been following this fic all this time and thanks for all your reviews. Please leave one last review/comment and write your last E-mails about this section of the fic. The next one will be served up RIGHT BEHIND THIS ONE so you better stop and catch your breath before it hits ya.^_~

For those of you who didn't bother to read the intro or just have a short attention span (like me ^_^) I must warn all of you DO NOT SKIP THE INTRO OF **BOOK TWO**. Doing so will cause you to miss out on a few important plot points and you may become confused. If you are afraid I might give too much away in the intro page (very few people seem to have this concern) then skip the paragraphs bellow the page break (This thing ******)

Stay tuned. **Book Two **will be coming right up.


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